Geometric Elegance Crafted from Metal with Minimal Wastage | OBJ-01 Lamp

FDT Bureau

Designer Manu Bano, co-founder of EWE Studio and associate at Esrawe Studio, has unveiled his inaugural product bearing his own name – a hand-assembled lamp constructed from raw metal. The OBJ-01 lamp is crafted from laser-cut stainless steel, steel or brass and manually put together using a rubber mallet. Know more about it on FURNITURE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY (FDT).

Bano procures the metal from various metal suppliers in Mexico City, where he is situated, carefully selecting sheets with minimal scratches to reduce the need for extensive polishing. The project emerged during the lockdown period, affording Bano the time for contemplation, ultimately sparking the concept of crafting a novel object.

The design for OBJ-01 evolved from Bano’s experimentation with materials at his disposal, initially involving recycled cardboard from shipping boxes, later transitioning to metal. The resulting OBJ-01 lamp boasts an elegant, geometric form, comprising a rectangle, a circle and a cylinder that accommodates an LED light. The central circular screen can be rotated 360 degrees, allowing the light to be directed in various orientations.

Engineered to possess timeless appeal, the manufacturing of OBJ-01 light is characterized by minimal wastage. According to Bano, throughout the production process, waste is virtually nonexistent since the lamp’s dimensions correspond to the standard size of a metal plate. Reportedly, he can create five lamps from a plate measuring 122 by 61cm.

Following assembly, the OBJ-01 lamps are sealed with beeswax and equipped with an LED light. Bano is overseeing a limited production run of the lamp, with each numbered series containing 10-20 lamps, complemented by poetic inspiration. With each lamp, Bano includes a poem composed and signed by Guillermo Crespo Galiana, a young poet from Valencia who has penned three poems inspired by the piece. He likes to think that these poems can be exhibited alongside the lamp, offering dual layers of interpretation.

Image credit: Alejandro Ramirez