I made these lamps from the circuitry of discarded keyboards. When you take a keyboard apart, there are two laminated sheets of circuitry inside. I chose to create an upcycled device out of computer hardware, because the average lifespan of a computer is very low compared to most other appliances (2-5 years). Therefore they get discarded very quickly. And to make matters worse, less than 20% of all discarded computers are actually disposed of properly. Taking old computers apart and looking at what I could use and create from them, I discovered keyboard circuitry and how well it absorbs the light and casts vivid and beautiful cast shadows! Combining my craftsmanship, origami, and sewing, I came up with this: At least 9 keyboards are required to make one lamp. Each keyboard according to brand and model have a different pattern of circuitry. So therefore no two lamps are the same. They take about 4 hours to cut up, sew together, hand-stitch every tab into place, and hang up. The red, blue, and yellow colors are added polyurethane plastics I put in myself. The solid green is an original color from the sheet. I call these things Circuit-hedrons (circuitry and polyhedron). I thought about making a business and selling these things on a small scale for $150 a piece. But I've been to unsure about it.
That's neat and all, but you'll have to get into very specific types of places to charge anywhere near that much.
It's not so much about how much money I could make. It's more about the satisfaction of knowing that some people like it enough to call it beautiful, and to increase my reputation as an artist and designer.
That is cool! As for the price... well, if you were trying to make a statement asking what the value of art is, you'd definitely be doing it. As in... I've never heard of a lamp shade for over a hundred dollars, and I could probably figure out how to do this myself.
This image meant to be included in the first post, but it's not showing for some reason: I actually did sell one to a friend for $100 when I was going to sell it to her for $70. She said I shouldn't sell myself short because she liked it so much. I guess I could say I have yet to determine a steady and set price. Devoting all my time hand-making these things and selling them as a living doesn't appeal to me. It takes 4 hours to make one of them. What I want to do is get recognized as a talented designer so I can get a full time job designing for a company.
I really wish we still had a rep button, those are awesome dude.. Definitely take the plunge and sell them.. FB page, Behance, dA, and all that marketing crap. It's tedious but it's well worth the effort. I'd also say fuck designing for a company, start your own. Obviously need some other "products", but start small. We're in an age now where we really don't need to piggyback on the "big guys", or more accurately, the big guys piggy backing on us. Employ them for their services, not the other way round.
Oh how neat! I take apart old computers, cell phones, etc and use the pieces to make plugs for people with gauged ears. I'm so happy to see that somebody else is worried about our excessive discarding of electronics!
Please tell me you're not talking about putting capacitors in people's ears. Just because it's important to recycle or reclaim things doesn't mean that they're totally safe to rip apart and cover your body with.
Ahahahaha. No no no. I float pieces in stainless steel tunnels. Everything is completely encased in resin, and nothing but the stainless steel comes into contact with the skin.
Skip would point out we have a marketplace. I'd say to give etsy a whirl. Local coops, too. I'd pay that much for a statement lamp. My concern would be shipping. Is there a way to ship them in a couple pieces/ flat? Because that's a big expensive box, open.
I've actually been making similar lamps with japanese paper. And I ]i]must[/i] know where you get that paper. Can you hook me up?
Very nice! I wish more people had interesting lighting in their homes, so many people here just have bare energy saver bulbs
