Nemo.

Abstract

When you look around you, folds are everywhere around you. Your collar is folded, your eyes fold, the galaxy and stars are being crushed - which can be said as a form of folding; even when we talk, the sound waves are folding as we listen. Origami, a form of paper folding art, has always interested me since I was a little girl and now it is one of my favourite childhood memories. Origami always manages to surprise people and it is as unpredictable as magic how it transforms a simple square to a variety of limitless shapes.

Inspired by the phrase “Less is more”- a quote from the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a precept for the minimalist design and the idea “to discover what is there rather than designing new things” from Droog design, my designed lamp is not only functional, but also interesting and playful.

Marrying the essence of origami with the latest technology, this project aims to give physicality to light by manipulating the intangible to the tangible. It also explores the interaction between users and the lamp, allowing one to modify light according to their preference and needs.

The name of this lamp, “Nemo” (pronounced as Nae-Mo), is both a Korean and Latin word. In Korean, the word means “square”, and in Latin, it means “nobody”. The Korean meaning of this word perfectly describes the shape of my lamp, while its Latin meaning gives the lamp a piece of my identity – that I am from nowhere and am hence a Nobody. As morose as that sounds, I feel that it is actually a happy thing to be a Nobody as it gives space for surprises in life - and it is this kind of unpredictability that my lamp will be bringing to its users.