Vula
Pendant Light.
Vula is a pendant light designed to fill a large space with a large vertical void, such as a stairwell.
The design is a pattern of 5 nesting leaves, 8 times in a regular octagon. Light disperses from a bulb in the centre in a heterogenouss pattern, which makes it a fantastic statement piece.
This was a team project in conjunction with:
David Bocanegra Ortiz
James McLeay
Whisley Reyes
Project Drafts
Before Vula, my original draft was a sconce light.
The segment form was inspired by the Bird Of Paradise flower
‘Vula’ is a name with dual meanings.
Vula means open up in swahili, the original culture from which the world was given the bird of paradise flower.
It is an allusion to ‘Voila’, a french word to point a person/object out with energy, i.e. “There you are!”.
CAD Drawings
The nesting objects were designed for flat packing, as demonstrated blow
Prototyping process
The petals and shells are vacuum formed. The petal prototype was 3D printed and painted. The final model required no treatment, as the high-intensity polystyrene had a natural gloss which kept through the forming process.
The petals and shells were designed to fit to a 3D printed frame piece, which was designed to be visually covered by it’s constituents. It connects to a central piece that sits above the light through section bent and cut aluminium rod. In a production run, most processes would remain the same. The 3D printed parts are designed to be adapted to injection molding.
