Prize(s) Winners in Ceiling Lights
Company Folded Light Art + Design
Lead Designers Jiangmei Wu
Photo Credits Tingge Guuo
Completion Date December 2019
Project Location Indiana, USA
Entry DescriptionPunica is the Latin name for pomegranate. The artist named the work shown below Punica as it reminded her of the silhouette of the pomegranate flowers that she saw while growing up in Southeast China. Punica is folded based on flat-foldable Miura-ori tessellation with divots. In general, folding Miura-ori into smooth curvature is materially impossible – the width of the paper corrugation will be too small to fold physically. So, in order to generate folded surfaces with smooth and gentle curves, Miura-ori is altered by adding divots. In order to create more dramatic effects with Punica, the dihedral angles of the folds in Punica are carefully considered. The dihedral angle of an origami fold is the angle between surface normals of the two incident sectors (faces). Increasing the dihedral angles of the folds to make the folds sharper will bring out more dramatic gradations changes with more contrasts in illumination. In addition, I use various material thicknesses to increase the contrast in Punica. Less light will pass through the surface of a material that is double or triple-layered, and the illuminated surface will appear to be darker in comparison to areas where there is only a single layer of material. The layered effect in Punica is intended to highlight the movement and the rhythm.
Sustainability ApproachDesigned using super light-weight, natural material coupled with low-impact digital fabrication and making techniques, Punica presents a minimal carbon footprint and ecological impact. According to the Life Cycle Analysis, the carbon emission from the making of each Punica light is less than one-tenth of the carbon emission per person per day in the U.S. The main material is a type of tear-free Shoji paper called Hi-tec Kozo, which has a three-layer structure, with eco-friendly polyester film as the core and Kozo Washi on both sides. Kozo Washi is a type of renewable material that is made from the inner bark of Kozo, a type of mulberry tree. The Kozo plant grows more than three meters high in a year and can be sustainably harvested each year.
Company DescriptionOrigami-inspired folded light art
