TEMPLE LAMP
2023 | Industrial DesignA lampshade project inspired by traditional Chinese temples, crafted with a combination of 3D printing, laser cutting, and woodworking.
Sketches
I brainstormed different lampshade ideas and finally decided to go with the “temple” idea.
Research & 3D CAD Modeling
I did research on traditional Chinese temples to learn their characteristics.
Additionally, I was inspired by Chinese knot patterns when I was designing the pattern of my laser cut “walls”.
I was also amazed by how the light is diffused in Chinese lanterns, and decided to use tracing papers to mimic a similar effect.
Then, I studied other designers’ 3D models of temples to see how they approach the complicated structures in different ways.
With lots of self-learning and some helpful tips from my TA, I successfully built my 3D model from scratch using Rhino 3D. I learnt a lot about Rhino from this project.
Prototyping
I 3D printed scaled models of the roof. I found problems and edited the model to make it better, then I printed it again. I repeated this process many times until I believed it was perfect and ready to print in full scale.
Similarly with the “walls”, I laser cutted the walls on matboards first. Then I made edits to the cut files, and laser cutted again. Finally, I laser cutted on chipboard when the cut file is good to go.
Then, I built the base of the temple lamp in the woodshop. And finally, I assembled all the pieces together using a hot glue gun.
