Dan McMahon
Designer and maker, lover of
Objects
Designer and maker, lover of
Objects
The first semi-realized lamp following experimentation with paper spraying. The material and technique, along with its toroidal column form, allow the lamp to be self-supporting despite it’s extremely thin wall thickness - which allows the diffusion of light creating a beautiful, soft glow that reveals the texture of the plant fibers.
Because the resulting material is so thin, it seems to be in a constant state of fluctuation in response to the ambient humidity of the space it occupies.
The function of a mudguard is a humble one; create a barrier between the bicycle’s rear wheel and the rider’s backside. For a city commuter, rain is more often a surprise than an anticipation, so Plume was deisgned to unfurl when you need it, and coil away when you dont.
Plume was designed in a reaction to the prolific existance of rather clunky, injection molded plastic mudguards. It is made from a thin but resilient stainless steel spring and a flexible polyurethane rubber which grips the seatpost.
After it’s first production run was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, Plume was nominated for the 2014 Design of The Year awards at the London Design Museum.
Plume was designed and created in collaboration with Patrick Laing.
This pair of tables was designed and built for an outdoor farm stand based in Catskill, NY. The design allows water from the elements and wet produce to pass through slats while displaying products.
The table’s were built from solid Ash using durable joinery and finished with a food-safe oil concoction which can be re-applied as needed by the farm staff, creating a living finish that will age well.
During the design process of a cast-resin lamp shade, the associated technical challenges coupled with a sense of guilt over a somewhat flippant choice in material gave way to what is now an ongoing investigation into creating self supporting paper structures that are also thin enough to diffuse light.
When paper pulp dries out, the plant fibers form strong bonds with one another and the resulting matrix shrinks, sometimes down to 50%. By using armatures and forms to selectively resist that shrinking, the resulting tension can be leveraged to create structural forms out of impossibly thin material. A secondary challenge then immerges: How can an armature be designed to resist the shrinking paper, but also disassemble from inside the resulting cocoon?
The exploration takes inspiration from the cocoon lamps designed by the Castiglioni brothers, as well as a long line of creative people using paper in lamp making and sculpture.
The most visible components of the Cage Lamp are a handle, turned by hand from hard Maple, and a wire cage which is bent from steel rod and welded around a hoop.
The steel cage snaps onto the Maple handle, registering into fluting carved around the lampholder.
A globe bulb is turned on or off by a tilt switch embedded in the handle.
A simple ledge shelf with fluted details to hold artwork, and a pair helping hands to hold it all up.
Solid Ash and Stainless Steel.
Solid pine, acrylic paint, glue