A Playful Design Utopia: “Bubble Lamp” by Teun Zwets
What defines the creative practice of Amsterdam-based designer Teun Zwets is an emphasis on spontaneous, on-the-spot creation that results in practical objects with an experimental and playful design aesthetic.
For his graduate project at Design Academy Eindhoven, Zwets welcomed his audience to “Teunland”, a collection of functional designs where each interior item was completed in less than a day. The speed of the process is crucial for him to stay focused. By only using what is available to him at the moment, a wide variety of materials are glued, screwed, or tied together to embrace their usability, leading to innovative creations.
Part of Zwets’ playful design utopia, “Teunland”, is the “Bubble Lamp”; an object that perfectly captures the essence of his instinctive process and design philosophy. It is the result of experimentations with a two-component polyurethane. This easily malleable and adhesive material is part of our everyday lives but is usually hidden from us. Zwets puts it centre stage and morphs it into a bubble-like shape with the help of a metal frame. His ability to transform a seemingly worthless material into useful and experimental collectibles is very much emblematic of Dutch design.
The end product is a lamp with otherworldly qualities, resembling a creature of the unknown. During the day the “Bubble Lamp” can easily pass as a sculptural centrepiece, given its intriguing silhouette, and return to its intended purpose as a lighting object at night.
What gives Zwets’ designs, such as the “Bubble Lamp”, their playful edge and out-of-this-world character is his intuitive and hands-on approach. Creating simple yet powerful objects is a key feature of his practice and has been earning him a great deal of attention in the design world, from a feature in DesignWanted to receiving the Kazerne Design Award in 2021.
