REFLECTIONS, a project that join together Santa & Cole and Surtido to create a work lamp for the 21rst Century

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You can’t live, study, draw or concentrate in the dark; you need the company of a lamp, which must now be adapted to its current requirements.

10/02/2011

Santa & Cole issued a new challenge: create the perfect desk lamp for the modern user. 

Technology has changed our habits regarding life and work. Computers have transformed the modern desk from a mountain of papers and stationery to a cleaner, more defined surface. But you cannot dispense with light.  You can’t live, study, draw or concentrate in the dark; you need the company of a lamp, which must now be adapted to its current requirements.

The result was a project entitled Reflections and a competition was created by Santa & Cole in conjunction with the design platform Surtido, to fulfil these aims.
Surtido, a collection of Spanish design studios, functions as an intermediary between designers and companies. Founded by Marc Morro its aim is to "promote and ensure greater visibility of the young designers of the country through workshops, exhibitions, conferences, lectures and personal projects." Surtido has just been awarded the Ciutat de Barcelona 2010 prize.

The brief was to create a lamp with a pleasant working light. The prototypes were to be powered using LED technology, adapted to modern uses and in harmony with Santa & Cole´s house philosophy. Marc Jacobsen´s classic Flexo (originally called Lux L-1, 1937) was given as an example of this kind of product.

Out of the initial concepts created for Reflections, 21 designs were presented to a panel from Santa & Cole in their showroom in Barcelona on the 14 January.

The studios had created a wealth of ideas, with an emphasis on adjustability, simplicity of form, quality materials, affordable production costs and the ability to regulate the intensity and incidence of light to suit the needs of the individual users.

The reactions received from the concepts presented were positive and left a desire to work with young designers in the future to provide innovative ideas and concepts.

Decisions based on the work of Reflections will be released by Santa & Cole in mid-February after the meeting of the editorial board. Currently plans include a touring exhibition of the designs submitted.