Design graduate lights up landscape
Here’s a bright idea: a floor lamp with a scroll for a shade that can be used to jot notes, draw pictures, or write a birthday greeting.
Bachelor of Fine Arts design graduate Tiffany Blaise, who created the Scroll Lamp, became the first laureate of the Surface3 Design Award for her innovation. The award was launched this year by Concordia’s Department of Design and Computation Arts with the generous donation of Surface3 design principals and Concordia alumni Jason Shatilla (BFA 03) and Carla El-Samra (BFA 01).
The $500 prize is given to a graduating student in the design program whose work showcases overall excellence with a specific focus on concerns about sustainability.
Blaise says she came up with the lamp to complete an assignment for a sustainable design class, but it is in keeping with her overall philosophy.
“All my projects are really sculptural,” she says. ”I think about the form, how I want something to function, and why I want it to look a certain way.”
The scroll of paper that serves as the shade can be drawn or written upon and then draped, or rolled up as it’s used, creating an archive of sorts. The three LED light bars are removable so that users can adjust the level of brightness. The birch and aluminum lamp frame can easily be collapsed for transporting. All of the features speak to one of Blaise’s guiding principles: to create objects that can adapt to a user’s needs.
Vibrancy, sustainability and conviviality are other key inspirations for her designs. An example of the latter is Connect, the striking dining utensil set that she created in collaboration with four other students. These can’t be called flatware. Resembling human ears, they function rather like scoops and are intended to encourage amiability and mindful eating during a shared meal.
“Through creating unique and sensorial experiences, I think we can change human interaction and perception,” Blaise says about challenging people’s ideas of how they relate with objects.
Blaise comes from a family of entrepreneurs and plans eventually to branch out on her own, but first wants to gain experience at design or branding agencies.
To support herself until the right opportunity comes along, the former Concordian photo editor is working as a photography assistant back in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. She isn’t complaining about some of her assignments. For example, she recently worked the red carpet at a splashy launch party for Virgin Airlines’ new Vancouver-London route, even taking photos of Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.
There’s a good possibility that people will be taking her photo on a red carpet one day because of her innovative thinking and designs.
Related links:
• Read about more 2012 Great Grads in the Faculty of Fine Arts
• Tiffany Blaise
• Scroll Lamp
• Connect
• Department of Design and Computation Arts