Truth in Design I : Things we take for granted

In this week's miniseries, the topic is teaching through truth in design. Truth of design is a debate that was really launched in architecture with the anti ornament movement of the early 20th century avant-garde, but today this debate has evolved and quieted in some ways, with trends shifting towards and away from specific aesthetics, but generally tending towards a simplistic and honest style. This design takes truth to the point of ornament in its oversized representation of the process it embodies. In this fun and attractive lamp, one must literally close a large and obvious representation of a circuit in order to turn on the light. I really like this design because it not only serves as a reminder of the painstakingly engineered technologies behind something so taken for granted as electricity or running water, but also because it gives the designer an excuse to reimagine the utilitarian form of a lamp into something beautiful without it being arbitrary.

http://oddmatterstudio.com/node/