APLAT is a lamp primarily made of paper, its base and shade are folded pieces of lightweight sheets. The use of an honest material such as paper is a fairly simple solution for a lamp. We think that one of the best light atmosphere is often created by simply putting a piece of paper in front of a light source, it produces a beautiful and warm light that reminds us of candle illumination. Here, APLAT uses paper as a light diffuser as well as a product architecture and visual language. Folds and creases are carefully dosed to give the lamp its structure and shape, additional elements, such as foot and handle, are designed to underline secondary functions.

With the APLAT lamp, we are developing a proposal for an object produced at a reasonable scale, where beauty in imperfection is revealed by its artisanal type of manufacturing. A collaboration between the digital, the manual and the automated; made by hand using self-made tools combined with new digital techniques such as 3D printing and computer assisted die cutting, in a small batch and with materials found locally. We are using standard light source parts, which means that elements can be re-placed or re-used. The lamp can be folded flat and sent by post with an easy home assembly. We wanted to shape the object with only a few folds and manipulation of one sheet of paper, like a piece of clothing made from flat surfaces to form a volume once assembled or wore. The inspiration for APLAT is quite graphical and maybe a bit typographical, in a sense we are trying to create a visual alphabet of paper light that is thought in two dimensions and realise as a three dimensional object.

photography © Max Verret