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Guilin Environment Cleansing Lamp by Kevin Chu |
Home > Winners > Design #63833 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
KC: The inspiration was taken from my trip to the Guilin mountains in China. These mountains are synonymous with the idea of the Chinese Martial Arts Fable and i wanted to make a design that reflects on this cultural heritage as well as the unique property of the ever changing nature of mother earth while also merging our patented photocatalytic environment cleansing technology.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
KC: My focus on designs in general has always been reflecting on change, movement and adaptability inspired from all organic lifeforms of our planet. I believe everything around us changes and i always feel when you buy a piece of furniture, it becomes too static, too boring after the initial honeymoon phase. I believe when a design allows for user customization, the user can become partially a designer and that gives far more longevity to the product. Also with our photocatalytic technology, by increasing the surface area of the lamp through the introduction of "acrylic mountains accessories", the environment cleaning ability becomes stronger directly related to how much accessories you purchase. So it is our idea that accessories are not simply redundant materialistic purchases but you are also buying something that benefits your health and our planet which becomes a great marketable potential. We want to make the buyer become part of a new movement to renew their lives and our planet.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
KC: The design is going into final phase of prototyping in Italy and will be launch on the market later this year. We already have quite an extensive back order to our design as i think it really reflects the "moment of our times" where the product serves far more functions then it costs while also giving so much back to the manufacturing industry and our planet.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
KC: The concept design was actually quite fast. I came up with the initial sketch in just 2 days after visiting the Guilin mountains last year in June. Then the first prototype started in October but went through many changes due to quality control. Eventually we decided to just move the whole production to Italy as our air clean technology is in Europe and the craftsmanship here, although higher in cost, simply meets our demand much better. We want to make our products not instinctive purchases but something you can treasure through time and also reduce the global wastage correlated directly to unethical and low cost manufacturing.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
KC: I simply decided to pursuit my own inspiration and retain as much creative freedom as possible!!!
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
KC: The lamps is currently produced by my company. We are currently looking for distribution channels/production collaboration. We have been offered collaborative manufacturing from several prospective companies that we are still considering.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
KC: I always trust my instinct and believe there will be a market for this design. I also believe photocatalysis in the furniture industry is the next big breakthrough and we hope to introduce a set of lifestyle products that will make your family healthier, live longer and also make the manufacturing environment better to work in as well as improve the well being of our planet.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
KC: Yes, my long life collaboration partner and constant muse: my wife as well as the amazing rendering skill of my technical director Mauro Berti. I also did quite extensive market research on the design of the lamp.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
KC: I believe anyone who wants an extremely well made, contemporary, beautiful and totally customizable product that also improve your life quality in your own environment as well as our planet.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
KC: We know for a fact we are the first company in the world that are working on environment cleansing furniture as we already been awarded the world wide patent. I also think it is the first lamp on the market that can change through geometrical customization. For now it might be a set of mountains but what is to stop it changing to a unique cityscape reflecting in the region that you come from.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
KC: GUILIN is a city in china famous for these "China Dream" mountains . The lamp took its name and inspiration directly from here. Please see link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilin
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
KC: 3D printing, 3D Max, AutoCad, CNC Machining, Laser engraving
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
KC: The illumination geometry can be changed by the user and the illumination also act as a catalyst to clean the environment from bacteria, odours and toxins. Very similar to photosynthesis from nature. The lamp also can change context from mountains to other designs by way of future accessories introductions. Finally the more accessories one purchases, the better it will clean your interior which relays to a huge market potential.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
KC: I work with my technical partner to come up with the photocatalytic technology as well as evolution of the design and manufacturing.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
KC: Standard photocatalytic treatment that are on the current market need UV light and air to work. But with our patented invention we have expanded the light spectrum to visible light as UV are harmful to humans. During the day Any Light Source and air will start the photocatlysis process and during the night when the light is switched on, the process will continue. It becomes a constant cycle that rejuvenates your environment.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
KC: We have been working with many universities on photocatalysis research as well as read many papers on the study. One of the upcoming University that will further test our lamp is D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pesacra in the Abruzzo region of Italy with Doc Giovanni Di Bonaventura, who is the head of microbiology. Please see link: https://en.unich.it/
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
KC: It all comes down to detailing in manufacturing as i am a perfectionist when it comes to product realization and since with this design, the acrylic mountains has the option to be taken out and replaced, the tolerance on openings and fitment has to be down to 0.05mm accuracy. Also the testing of the photocatalysis process is quite extensive and arduous.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
KC: We always knew we will submit this design to many esteem/global top level competitions as the technology and design is so unique, in order to get to market launch we need as much publicity as possible to gain market share and hopefully recoup our extensive R&D cost and time.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
KC: I think this lamp lays the foundation to all our current and future concepts that offers air clean technology as well as highly customizable designs. Because i followed through from initial sketch, 3D model making, manufacturing collaboration, scientific research, graphic design, marketing channels and suppliers collaboration. It has made me highly knowledgeable in all the steps when coming to realization of this product. As per usual i am never satisfy with any product even when is market launchable so i am constantly working on updates and improvement on current and future versions. Our photocatalytic technology is also an on going process as scientific research are evolving in leaps all the time.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
KC: No. Thank you and i hope all the answers are helpful
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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