Self Packaging Light Of Zero Waste

A strangely underrated material, cardboard is very strong and durable when used in the right way, while also being lightweight and soft to touch. A distinctive material whose usage is usually restricted to little more than packaging is often one to be widely experimented with by design studios. Neutral in both tone and form, this distinctive LED lighting solution would be a fantastic addition to almost any type of interior, workshop, industrial or even a more homely setting depending on your style.

A design homage to the versatile materiality of cardboard (and specifically tubes), the R16 light that has been designed by Waarmakers is an elegantly simple solution that features laser cuts along itself, fully preserving all design integrity and optimising on the form's natural benefits. Using itself as the actual packaging that your delivery is packed in, the straight forward luminary is both elegant and without waste.

Delivered with various components that are needed to transform the tube into a light, after the cylinder is unwrapped and the perforated section removed, the tube has room for the lightbulb to minimally shine through. Suspended by a cord that is threaded to within the cylinder tube, with cork stoppers at either of its ends to close off the tube, and with a pencil and 5 pence coin that is held vertically in the tube to hold the LED rod, everything about this lamp is all so true to itself.

Concepted while the studio were designing a different product altogether, during the other product's design phase they received many different bulbs in cardboard packaging that they needed to dispose of, and as they explain, "...throwing all this cardboard away just felt very off. It's a beautiful material, if used in the right way. So we started to think how we could reuse or repurpose it..."

The use of an LED bulb over a conventional long bulb ensures that the light won't overheat or damage the cardboard tube, and beyond this project the studio have gone on to explore many other environmentally friendly ideas.

Discover more, and available to purchase online at Waarmakers.nl.

Photography credit : Waarmakers.nl

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