13 May 2009

LightCycle Design

The 2009 LightCycle competition is underway.

Orgainsed by Australian architectural lighting design firm, Electrolight, the LightCycle competition asks designers to explore principles of environmental sustainability in the creation of innovative light fitting designs.

Following the success of the inaugural event in 2007, this year’s competition – part of the State of Design Festival in Melbourne – invites designers of all disciplines to “exercise their creative flair”. The LightCycle brief requires that the designs incoproate a 1 metre strip of LED lighting.

“We are very excited to present LightCycle again,” says Electrolight Director, Paul Beale. “In 2007 we were blown away by the response to the competition. It will be really interesting to see how entrants this year respond to the theme and work with the LED assembly.”

In 2007 the focus was on the re-use/reinterpretation of found objects, with some fantastic responses including Guillaume Roux’s ‘Polly’ – a robot made from excess packaging from appliances and equipment – and Simon Knott, Rory Hyde and Tai Snaith’s ‘Slow Motion Catastrophe Lamp’ – exploring the concept of global warming.

“The slow motion catastrophe lamp is here to remind us that every time we switch on the lamp we are contributing to global warming,” the designers state. “We may be living in what will be referred to in the future as ‘the ice cream age’.”

“Australia is known for design excellence in many fields, and we hope that this competition will prompt designers from all backgrounds to apply their creativity to the challenge,” Beale says. “I’m sure the results will be stunning”.

The competition is now open for entries – click here to enter. Short listed entries will be exhibited during the State of Design festival at the Guildford Lane Gallery. Winners will share in over $8000 of prizes.

electrolight.com.au

Hero Image: 'Ho-Ho' – Peter Ho

'Slow Motion Catastrophe' – Simon Knott, Tai Snaith, Rory Hyde