stalk

/stk/

brief
design a lamp that incorporates an
organic alternative to fiberglass
and concrete with an experimental
aggregate.

starting.point
corn is my favorite.

fibers
when tasked with finding organic
fibers that could replace the synthetic
fibers in fiberglass, i immediately
went to corn. within corn is both the
husk and the silk. in exploration of
corn fibers applications i tried a few
things.
a) i wove corn husk.
b) i tangled corn silk.
c) i felted corn silk with wool.
each had its aesthetic and practical
advantages. my top contenders were
the corn silk and the woven corn husk
due to their appearance and strength
as a fabric in resin.

ideation
#lamptownusa

fabrication
with a set design, it was time to get
into the making. what i had left to
do included molding and casting the
concrete base for the light to rest
in, mill the wall mount, and cast the
fiberglass husk shades.
i would cast a blue foam plug in
concrete to use as a mold for the part.
the aggregate i chose to implement
was perlite fertilizer because of its
porous and spongey properties. this
would allow for a lightweight part
perfect for a hanging fixture.

mold

cast

insert

refine

i . d o n t . l i k e
the refined part was not what i was
looking for. the product was bulky and
heavy. i had to figure out something
else to do. back to the drawing board.

more.making
now with a table lamp design on
the table, i was able to get back to
work. moving forward with the same
materials i redo the process.
this time using a chipboard tube to
cast the base, i inserted a dowel with
a wire groove.

cast

refine

husky.shades
taking another look at the corn fibers
and their potential to be implemented
as a lamp shade, i took a look at using
geometric cuts of husk. structurally,
aesthetically, and practically it made
sense to use laminated husk as the
shade.

place

glow

cut

laminate

assemble

cure

stalk

/stk/

stalk

/stk/

wrap.up
this design project that explored
experimental materials and processes
has provided me with many insights
and take aways to implement in future
endeavors with lighting, concrete,
and fiberglass.
first of these insights is the matter that
these materials are unpredictable and
do not follow any schedule that youd
like to maintain. the resin has to cure
and the concrete has to harden: there
is no fast forward button.
additionally, the experimental nature
of the materials and processes also
made me aware that i have no idea

what the material is going to do. for

example, when the shades were
assembled on the lamp, the heat of
the bulb weakened the cure of the
resin and each of the shades bent.
this turned out to be a happy accident
because the splayed appearance of
the shade closely resembles a semishucked corn on the cob.
a major growing point during this
project was anytime that i had to
ammend a design. this was very
often, but hey thats the process.
i look forward to developing this
prototype further. maybe to sell?

taylor.s.ross

fall.2014