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### Why did you choose decorative lighting as your medium?
 
The beautiful freedom of form and material use attracts me to work in decorative lighting.
 
It's also a balance between the functional and decorative aspects of lighting. Of course, we are trying to design a broad appeal that'll fit into several different styles within space. For example, although the Ceto is quite a decorative piece of glass, it has been designed as a modular lighting system that could fit as many applications as possible.

### Can you please run us through your process of creating a decorative lighting product?

My approach to design is a meticulous blend of inspiration, collaboration, and innovation. Each project begins with an idea that demands exploration and refinement. The narrative of creation unfolds in stages, from the initial concept and a brief to the moment a piece is actualised through digital and physical means.
 
To many, design means having an idea, and the purpose of a process is to create a product that's as close to the idea as possible, bridging the gap between reality and "the mind's eye." To me, however, the aim is "refinement." The design process is a quest of problem-solving; it's about considering the product's sustainable value, ergonomic elements, how it can be disassembled, and how it will last and age. Because of this approach, the outcome is often a balance between various components, from product viability to how it truly represents our brand.

**Concept and Ideation**

At the heart of our work is the concept phase, a period of isolation and contemplation where ideas are actualised and nurtured.
 
To move forward with an idea, we need to be excited about it and confident that it will resonate with others. We present our concepts to the team of 10 - 12 people for feedback, hoping to receive an immediate positive reaction instead of a mild "I like it" response. This immediate reaction is quite important to me as it helps us gauge if an idea is strong enough and worth pursuing because, beyond this point, we will be committing the next 12 months of significant resources to make this idea work. We then create a very detailed brief that considers every aspect we could think of for the product.
 
**Collaboration and Refinement**

Once the brief is clear, the journey from sketch to sculpture involves collaboration and technical refinement. We use 3D printing to transition ideas into tangible, full-scale product prototypes. This early prototyping is essential as it enables us to address design challenges efficiently.
 
Before we speak to a manufacturer, there's usually a step where I'll make some of the metal components. I have access to a lathe and a metal mill, so I'll often do a production prototype of how things will be figured out. There are many different ways to put heat sinks together and connect elements, so I'll often do that piece with my father, who's recently retired and is an engineer. It's a fun process because there are different ways to engineer something. Then, taking that prototype back into the studio and making little refinements is a beneficial part of the process. The last step of production prototypes involves working with the manufacturer, doing tests, and gaining a shared understanding with our manufacturer about how to make the piece and what we will need to compromise or not compromise on.
 
During the development of the Mene, for example, we started with the idea of creating a sister product to the Ceto, mimicking the sun reflecting on the ocean light effect. Instead of the sun, the Mene is lunar-inspired and echoes the consistent design language of its predecessor.


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During the process, we did many tests with our manufacturer, The Jam Factory, in Adelaide. Instead of creating an optic mould, we had the glass blowers blow bubbles and press them on different objects. From that process, we, as a studio, got a good understanding of how the glass would behave and how the light would interact with various finishes, and then we set about creating our designs with the ripples on the inside of the glass.

**Communicating the Vision**

Once we have the finished products, we move to promoting and figuring out how to market the products. One of the most important and relatively rewarding phases is the photoshoot. It's a gratifying process figuring out how to shoot the product that best represents the product as a concept and a refined lighting product. I put a lot of emphasis on this step because, if we're honest, more people will see that image than they will interact or see the product in real life.
 
Looking at the grand scheme of things and the entire process, photography is so special to me in that it marks the completion of a very long project that consumed our minds and collective efforts for a whole year.
 
### Your latest product is the limited edition Vestige, a highly complicated and statement lighting piece described as "an optical device to create a sense of wonderment". Can you please share with us how this specific product came to be?
 
We started the process with Vestige, knowing we wanted to create a piece using cast glass. We then reached out to Peter Kovacsy, who is a renowned glass artist.
 
As a designer I always enjoy and try my best to connect and have conversations with the specialists in the field to get into the nitty gritty and understand their process truly. With Peter, I had the chance to travel to his studio, and we did a lot of tests to know how the light would interact with cast glass as the material. To my surprise, it worked really well in clear glass, but as soon as we tried different coloured glasses, beautiful blues and green, I was surprised it absorbed all the light and didn't illuminate the material. So, it didn't behave like blown glass, which meant we needed to work with clear glass to illuminate it.
 
**Designing the Form**

Knowing more about the nature of the material and that this is a limited edition piece— there will only be five of these in the world—I had to be free and step out of our typical process of an idea and a brief that we talked about previously to create an object that Peter was going to develop with that cast crystal glass material.
 
I've always loved "singular material pieces" objects, so although this product is not one, the intention is to make it appear like that as much as possible – intentionally ambiguous with the archetype revealed as it's illuminated. The Vestige is a brutalist- inspired design: a minimal piece that grounds itself with the cast glass material, featuring a solid parabolic cone with a concave face that emerges from within a monolithic rectangular base.


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**Designing the Light Source**

From the glass mould-making process, the Vestige naturally has this beautiful pitted surface that resembles the surface of the moon. Creating the light source for the Vestige was especially important because we needed a suitable medium not to overwhelm the piece but to gently bring all of those little idiosyncracies to life.
 
The outcome is a 20 mm high section of aluminium that we machined with a series of LEDs that wrap around the inner base. It became a lightbox with a diffuser on the top, and assembly is simply picking housing and positioning it on top of the base. We also polished the base and rear of the piece to create the otherworldly effect of gentle light emanating from underneath and dispersing through the form.
 
As you walk around the product and look at it from the front, you can see the illuminated texture of the glass from within, revealing all the little bubbles and elements within the glass. At the back, however, you get a different view of the object, where one plane becomes transparent and disappears into the form.


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**The Making of the Vestige**

One reason the Vestige is a limited edition is that it takes 28 days to produce each piece. Peter first builds a timber framework to use as a mould to create the Vestige. Once the mould is ready, it is placed on a kiln hearth to start pre-drying and curing. Crystal glass is then carefully selected and added to the mould. The Vestige undergoes a firing and annealing process, which takes 28 DAY rounds. After the 28 DAY rounds, the Vestige is left to cool to room temperature and then painstakingly removed from the mould and revealed.


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### What was the most rewarding moment for you when creating Vestige?
 
At Milan Design Week, we participated in the event with our exhibition, Transcendence. We took over a gallery in Brera and created five different rooms with black velvet curtains, making the exhibition quite experiential. Music and scent set the tone and visitors could move through the space and interact with different elements. Our team enjoyed engaging with the visitors throughout the days of the exhibition.


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The Vestige was displayed in its own room, blackened out, with just two pieces glowing in the centre. Observing people coming into the room and interacting with the objects was fascinating.
 
As a studio and a business producing experiential objects, we've always hoped to bring people joy and defy conventions with our works. It sounds like a simple thing to do, but sometimes it's quite complicated. Every day, there are many things that people interact with, and our job is to create something that will take them out of the mundane and take them into a place of wonderment. That's what we work so hard to achieve. So, at Transcendence, being able to see people interact with our products and lend us their excitement was really, really rewarding.

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Creating wonderment through decorative lighting – a conversation with Ross Gardam

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