One of the great things about being a photographer is that you get to create and share images that mean something to you. This is true for all people, not just the ones that make a living shooting photos. As a Commercial Photographer, however, there are projects that you never get to share and also projects that you can’t share right away.
Soon after our arrival back in Canada after six months away doing volunteer work in Mexico, I was privileged to be able to shoot one of those kinds of projects. So for that past five months I have been dying to share these images and the project behind them. Without further ado, I would like to introduce the ELENI Lamp by Designer Matthew Kennedy of AVI Inc and MaKe.
![LED Lighting by AVI, Inc.]()
The ELENI Lamp, by Designer Matthew Kennedy of AVI, Inc.
This light (along with a few others of his design) had been submitted to the LAMP (Lighting Architecture Movement Project) CRYSTALLIZE Competition. As of today, we have been informed that it has chosen as one of the finalists in the competition. Personally, I would love to see this light win not just because of my personal connection here, but also because of its elegant visual design and its innovative use of LED lighting technology.
You can support me and this project by casting your vote at http://www.welovelamp.ca/cast-your-vote. The light is in the ESTABLISHED category, and the name again is ELENI. If you have a little time and are into lights and decor, check out some of the light in the other categories as well, there are some really amazing concepts showcased.
![Photographed by Darryl Bueckert]()
![The ELENI Lamp by Matthew Kennedy]()
![The ELENI Lamp by Matthew Kennedy]()
![The ELENI Lamp by Matthew Kennedy]()
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ELENI Project concept:
Eleni crystallizes what lighting could be: low energy consumption, excellent distribution and quality of light, and avoids the losses of putting a light source within a shade. Simple in terms of materials and assembly, the design is built around the technology, an exercise in functional minimalism.
From an incredibly small structure, LED light shines through a transparent acrylic waveguide, finished with gloss surfaces to a crystal-glass finish. Like etched crystal, grooves score the waveguide, the crossed lines making diamond patterns across its interior surface. Here is where the magic happens: light travelling through the waveguide is extracted through the grooves, the light reflecting off the crystalline structure of the extractors, and lighting up the world around it.
Eleni is created from cutting-edge solid state technology: high efficacy, low power consumption LEDs produce quality, dimmable light that is functionally distributed from the shade-shaped waveguide around its circumference, providing ergonomic, low glare light with superior colour rendering to the environment around it.
Weighing just two kilos, Eleni seems to float, with her diaphanous chandelier suspended at a single point from the offset structure, the weight distribution cleverly built into the counterbalanced design. And there is only 1 screw in the entire product.
ELENI Project Specs:
Metrics
- Diameter, waveguide ⌀450mm
- Height, waveguide 270mm
- Height, overall 470mm
- Support structure 27mm x 45mm; stem ⌀20mm
- Mass 2,1 kG
Specifications
- Dimmable
- 120-240 Volt
- System Option A:
- Aesthetic system design
- 3500K
- 92 CRI, R9050
- Efficacy: 83 lumens per Watt
- 4,150 lumens at 50W output
- System Option B:
- Performance system design
- 4000K
- 80 CRI, R8000
- Efficacy: 106 lumens per Watt
- 5,300 lumens at 50W output
Aesthetic & Performance models are differentiated as efficacy changes relative to colour rendering and temperature.
Design
- Injection molded acrylic waveguide with engineered extractors
- Anodized aluminum structure (extruded; sintered or machined)
- Custom modular LED PCBs
- Remote driver
- 1 screw
ELENI Project Press Release:
I am happy to announce that my luminaire project ELENI was accepted to the CRYSTALLIZE competition from LAMP – the Lighting Architecture Movement Project.
Projects are open to public voting now. The link is a bit further down in my email. I’ve added two images of Eleni to this email, and you may find more at the LAMP website.
Please consider ELENI for your vote, amongst some really amazing lighting projects entered into the competition.
Eleni is a really special luminaire – a light emitting waveguide that looks like a lampshade – something like fiberoptic lighting, but with a comfortable, familiar look – powered by a discreet LED system with superior efficacy & color rendering, concealed within a sleek cantilevered arm – unique and exceptional. Eleni was beautifully photographed by
Darryl Bueckert Visuals with some really cool mid-century furniture and a wooden burl bowl carved by my dad, an inspiration for me –
http://darrylbueckert.com.
If you choose to vote, you must select your winner from each of the three categories: Student, Emerging and Established. You can find ELENI in the established category – I’ve been designing lightning for 7 years. Select your winners then hit CAST MY VOTE – which brings you to another page where the CAST MY VOTE button appears again – hit it and you’ll be sending your well wishes to something special.
Please consider forwarding on to your friends and colleagues – every vote counts!
Thank you,
Matt Kennedy
Avi Inc. & MaKe
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