Hasta La Ideas

Russian product designer Ilya Tkach has created a simple desk lamp featuring a light source that snaps onto its stem with a magnet.

Ilya Tkach‘s Magnon light comprises just two pieces. LEDs are contained within a long wooden oak block, along with a magnet that runs down one edge.

The magnet allows this element to stick to the flat sides of a white metal stem, which sits at an angle to the circular base.

“The lamp is fixed on the base just by magnetic forces, and can be easily moved and rotated,” said the designer.

The wooden baton can be used separately as a handheld torch or attached to other metal surfaces.

Small metal objects such as stationary can also be stored along the magnet to keep the desk clear.

The post Magnets connect Ilya Tkach’s
two-part desk lamp appeared first on Dezeen.

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London Design Festival 2013: experimental surfaces covered in patterns created by magnetism are on show at Dutch designer Tord Boontje‘s studio this week (+ slideshow).

Boontje mixed metallised pigments into liquid resin and painted a thin layer of the coating onto aluminium composite panels.

He then used magnetic fields generated by permanent magnets or by passing an electric current through a wire to align the pigments. The resulting patterns were captured as the resin set.

Sharp lines of pigment trace the position of the magnetic fields and gradually blur in the gaps between, creating swirling shapes and holographic visual effects.

“When you bring together two magnets they either attract or push each other away – if you have more magnets then something more complex starts to happen,” Boontje told Dezeen.

The collection is part of an ongoing process of investigation that Boontje told Dezeen first began when he was a student at Design Academy Eindhoven. “I was interested in exploring something that’s invisible, that’s part of nature,” he said.

Some of the surfaces have been combined with steel frames to create tables and chairs. Boontje chose steel “because it attracts magnets,” and because he admires the steel sculptures created by minimalist artist Richard Serra.

New pieces will be added to the collection for a future gallery show, and Boontje believes the process could be industrialised and applied to products as diverse as clothing and architectural cladding. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “The surfaces can be used in many different ways.”

Magnetic Fields is being exhibited at Boontje’s studio and shop in Shoreditch as part of the London Design Festival, and will remain on show until 8 December 2012.

Other projects by Studio Tord Boontje include a series of lamps that are counterbalanced by filling their bases with objects like stones, books or apples, and a doorbell made from bent metal rods that support a random assortment of noisy everyday objects.

Boontje is due to leave his post as head of the Royal College of Art Design Products course at the end of this month after four years in charge, in order to focus on his own design studio.

See more design by Tord Bootje »
See all our stories about London Design Festival 2013 »
See Dezeen’s map and guide to London Design Festival 2013 »

Here’s a brief description of the project from Studio Tord Boontje:

Magnetic Fields: Studio Tord Boontje

In his latest collection of work, Tord Boontje has created patterns through magnetism. This is an ongoing investigation into magnetism, pigments and holographic effects. These studio experiments have taken place over the last three years.

This collection of resin coated surfaces has an eerie depth in their embedded 3-dimensional patterns of electro magnetic movement, which allude to a dark sci-fi atmosphere.

The principle can potentially be applied to create bags, shoes, to interior and exterior architectural cladding, to spaceships…

“I use complex magnetic fields to orientate pigment particles in a very thin layer of resin. The magnetic fields are sometimes created through magnets and sometimes they use the magnetic field created by running an electric current through a wire” – Tord Boontje.

The post Magnetic Fields by
Studio Tord Boontje appeared first on Dezeen.

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These magnetic bicycle lights by Copenhagen Parts turn on as soon as they come into contact with the steel frame.

The magnets mean it’s easier to take the lights with you when leaving the bike chained up and also enable them to be positioned anywhere on the frame.

They contain battery-powered LEDs and come in machined aluminium or coloured silicone finishes.

You might also like the Bookman LED bicycle lights that attach with elastic bands, especially if your bike’s made from anything other than steel.

See all our stories about cycling here and all our stories about bicycles here.

Here’s some more information from Copenhagen Parts:

Steel is real – magnetic bike lights

Scandinavian Winters are dark, cold and long so we get the importance of good bike lights. The trouble is that there are hardly any good looking bike lights. We wanted something that looked good, worked well and, most importantly, could be fitted and removed instantly. The answer was obvious – magnets.

‘We had the idea some time ago and have spent the last 18 months getting them right. We now have them perfected and will soon be ready to launch this patented innovation’ says Copenhagen Parts co-founder, Lars Thomsen.

Mads Kjøller Damkjær, co-founder in the company, adds ‘magnets and steel tubes are an obvious match but we’ve spent a lot of time working on selecting the right components and perfecting the details so that they will fit to different tube diameters and stay there’. And the cleverness doesn’t end there. The lights turn on when placed on the bike and automatically switch off when removed.

‘We have been riding with the prototypes for 6 months. They are so easy to fit anywhere on the frame and they stay put – regardless of the road surface. And they just pull off to keep them out of the grasp of thieves’ says Anthony Forsyth, bike-geek and one of the designers for Copenhagen Parts.

Ok. They only work with steel frames but with the vast majority of people still riding steel-framed bikes there’s an ample market. For steel frames, they work outstandingly. For other materials, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Sorry, but that’s physics for you.

We are launching two versions – Randonneur and Lode. Randonneur has a body of machined aluminium and is polished to give a very classic finish. Lode has a silicone rubber outer, available in a range of striking colours.

‘Both versions come in a small and cool package, made from recycled materials, that can be used to store the lights and to display them in-store’ says dis- tributor and production partner from Cph Odd, Jacob Guldager.

Both are extremely compact and use battery-driven LED light sources. The lens is designed to illuminate from the sides as well as straight-on to increase visibility. The fact that they can be placed anywhere on the frame without fittings also makes it possible to use multiple sets to further aid visibility to other road users.