Oakland Makers @ OMI

I am proud to announce that the Stola Table Lamp will be part of a new exhibition in my home city of Oakland.

OAKLAND MAKERS @ OMI 
Multidisciplinary Art Exhibit by Oakland Based Artists 
At Omi Gallery at Impact Hub Oakland
June and July 2014, 9AM-6PM
2323 Broadway, Oakland CA

Please come to the exhibit to see the lamp in person as well as fine work from a selection of makers in Oakland.

Adjustable legs for a lamp Josh is designing. Look out 2014!

Simple, Straight-forward, Evident

Josh has been thinking about how to make an inexpensive lamp using plywood. With this, he has questioned why he wants to use this material and how it would relate to his work in felt. These new lamps might be another opportunity for him to cut and join an interesting material in a simple and evident way. In his design work, Josh tries to makes things that let people easily see and experience each item’s construction.

Meet the Large Stola Table Lamp & Photo Contest

Actual is excited to announce a larger Stola Table Lamp! At six inches taller than the original, the bigger lamp creates an entirely different atmosphere. Sitting beside two feet of light envelopes you in the ambient glow of the lamp, and its elegant shape will complement any room.

Photo Contest: Where would you put your Stola Lamp? 
If you had a Large Stola Table Lamp, where would you put it? Post a photo of your dream spot for the lamp on our Facebook page and you could win one for free!

This Is Where It All Happens

We recently bought a new Juki sewing machine for our local producer specifically to make our Stola Lamps. The unusual lamp material requires an industrial machine equipped with a walking foot, which smoothly feeds the fabric through the machine by pulling from top and bottom simultaneously. In purchasing this machine, we are helping our producer more efficiently construct the lamps. This, in turn, helps us build a stronger business.

Stola Lamps and the Landscape: A Design Experiment

After washing a few sample Stola Lamps that were dirty, Josh laid them out to dry flat on a table. Having them open and stuck together edge-to-edge made them form a landscape. The kind of structure inherent to a landscape is exactly what Josh likes to work with, changing even this small task into a design experiment.

Cords: Details, Process, and Design

People often think the hardest part of design is coming up with the concept for a unique product. However, the complex combination of making sure the piece successfully operates, ensuring that the smaller details are visually cohesive, and keeping the final cost affordable requires an enormous amount of time. Months of research and dozens of samples for the Stola Lamps have finally concluded with the introduction of a fabric cord. This small change makes a substantial difference in the overall aesthetic because the new cord truly matches the soft fabric and organic shape of the lamp.

Actual at SF Design Week

Actual has been invited to participate in FormFactors, a celebration of San Francisco’s thriving design scene in conjunction with SF Design Week and IDSA SF. Check out our Stola Lamps displayed at Taylor Stitch, 383 Valencia Street (between 14th and 15th) in the Mission.

Templates, Templates, Templates

These are the templates that Josh uses for cutting material and prototyping products. With the precision of a laser cutter, Josh can add or subtract millimeters of width from the Zip Tie or change minute details of the Stola Lamp. First a mockup is made, then Josh immediately transfers the measurements into a computer drawing, and finally he uses the laser cutter at the TechShop (SF) to make the template pieces. This increases the efficiency of time used and cost, thus allowing Josh to experiment as needed. Stay tuned!

Production is hard

I'm trying to source lamp cords for the new lamp. Here's a display of a portion of the samples I've collected over the last few weeks. Trying to find a decent combination of quality, low price, availability, and convenience of assembly.

Mass production can be really hard. A big part of this job is showing up every day and getting through the small challenges.

All the details for perfecting the cord will pay off in the new big table lamp. I've got a prototype at home. I often turn it on and sit beside it just to experience the light.

My friend Antje also likes the lamp.

New lamp shape!

I just finished the first prototype of a really big Stola Table lamp! Here it is compared with the original. It's about 24" tall and 15" wide.

I'm excited about this!

I don't think the scale comes across in this photo, but when you sit beside this lamp you are enveloped in light.

Here's the shape fresh off the sewing machine.

Here it is during construction. Thinking about a zipper or Velcro closure for this one but we'll see.

New Stola Lamp Experiment

I've been working on designing a new large Stola Lamp with some interesting results. The idea I had initially failed, but some interesting forms came out of the process. All the photos I've posted are the same piece. This first one is inside-out.

Here it is the way I intended, but as hanging lamp. Unfortunately the shade doesn't grab the inside ring well enough to hang.

Here's the shade all stretched out.

Another view.

Sewing the shade.

All the pieces fresh off the laser cutter.

How it started.

Odds and ends

After the holiday rush I've been designing again, and taking care of odds and ends.

First, here's the die cut for the Zip Tie end. You can see the blade embedded in the wood base.

Blue felt. Actual might introduce a blue Zip Tie in the spring.

Here's a big roll of recycled PET, the material used for the Stola Lamps. Previously we had to cut the lamps out of smaller sheets. This 62" wide roll will allow us to make much larger lamps!

Lamps on site

The stola lamps in a loft in SF! I love the set of 3 lamps together.

Why do I do this?

I've spent the morning repairing prototype lamps so that we can sell them as seconds/samples. Any business person would say this was dumb because it would be better to spend the time selling, selling, selling...

So why do I do it? First, it's meditative and I enjoy it. Second, eliminating waste is satisfying. And finally, I learn a lot about making things by slowing down and looking at the details. So as our president would say, It's the right thing to do.

Success at last

I have to admit I'm learning more than I ever thought I'd know about operating a Juki DNU-1541S walking foot industrial sewing machine...

Last night I figured out what might be the final step in making perfect lamps: switching from a heavy nylon thread to a T-60 poly thread. On the very first seam the machine shredded the thinner thread, but after that it worked fine. And the finished product is so much smoother and more delicate.

Stola lamp in core77

The new lamps were noticed by core77 at design week... I really like their photo! Makes me thing about taking more photos of multiple lamps.

Stola lamp in Handful of Salt

The new Stola lamp was noticed by Handful of Salt! By the way, she chose my favorite photo of the lamp, which I have posted here.

Cork man, lamps

Here are a portion of the prototype lamps we have created... It's been a long process but the first production lamps are ready and I'm getting ready to formally introduce them.

What excites me about this product is that it's a concept that can be developed into an entire line over time. So all the hard work of figuring out the details will pay off for years to come.

Also, I feel the best design work is an exploration of a form concept rather than a 'product'.

First real photos

After MUCH hard work the new lamp is finally done! (Well, almost. Still needs a name and packaging/labeling.) I'm very happy with the way it turned out, really looking forward to getting it out there. Here are some photos I took today. We should have the lamp up on the new website in a week!