Vivian Chen


Industrial Designer

Light Symphony





2022

Light Symphony is a light designed to visualize moments in the air, amplifying emotions by making the unseen seen.

The lamp captures real time weather data with a sensor stationed outside of the house, and uses movements of light and shadow to represent the everchanging sensorial emotion that natural wind brings.

Lighting design
Installation art



Lighting and Movements


Wind feels good




How to capture and visualize this sensorial experience?






Inspiration


Inspired by many installation art, I wanted to explore if there’s a way to present artistic expressions through the craft of industrial design.

Olafur Eliasson
Left: Beauty, 1993
Right: A description of a reflection or, a pleasant exercise on its qualities, 1995



Experiments


I created tables of mock-up studies using various materials in attempt to find a lighting effect that gives the quality of wind—unpredictable, calming, and movement.





Design


Inspired by the shape of a French horn, Light Symphony “sings” and celebrates the unseen around us




With a cable tunning through the wall, the lamp connects to a sensor station outside, which detects wind and temperature outside of the house in real time. The data then gets translated and reflects through the speed of rotation and the warmth of light



Internal Components


A screw on component housing holds all internal reflection mechanisms together





Design Process



Original Prototype






UNSEEN card. Letterpress print. 8.5” x 11”.


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