Australian Joel Booy was already working as a designer before he started his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven. With his graduation project, called Dark Matter, he is in the race for a Keep an Eye grant. Next saturday when the Graduation show is opening, the winners of the grants will be announced. Joel explains what drove him to design these 4 lights. "When seeing images of the black spots in the landscape on the planet Mars, taken by the 'Mars Reconaissance Orbiter' i was intrigued. It sparked something in me. The lamps I designed are imaginations of what might lie within these mysterious holes." Joel says it was clear from the start he wanted to make lamps that are somewhere between domestic and sculptural, and that he was going to make objects that he would want himself.
Objects and stories
Joel: “Designing a new function wasn’t the focus of this project. Like a photographer shows the world a certain angle or point of view and therefore a piece of another truth, as a designer I want to do the same. I like to take a story and build on it. This results in a collection of different lamps that share the same narrative." Joel wanted to design a light that would be somewhere between object and art. "It's a delicate balance I was looking for. I want to make things that people actually buy, but I also want to add personality to an object."
Being your own client
Joel already has his own studio 'Truly Truly' in Eindhoven, together with his partner Kate Booy. Therefore he is used to working for clients. In the academy he learned to start working from material and explore what that material can do. In his graduation project he took the best from both worlds. "What I like about a clear briefing is that it pushes you to explore the boundaries. When you have a window, you are curious about what's outside of that window. So I made a brief for myself, as if i was my own client. As I learned so much here about free exploration regarding materials and models, I could really take the project further. I did everything my own way. I thought about every detail, like the cable and how I could avoid using transformers."
Future
Joel defines the role of a designer as someone who surprises clients. "Our ideas often don't even make it to the production line, but they do inspire and lead to new ways of producing. I love this part of my work. It doesn't mean I am not realistic: for Dark Matter I used simple materials, so that they can be taken into mass production without too much complexity. But you start from the seemingly impossible." If I win the grant, I would definitely look into production partners for the Dark Matter light collection.
Photo by Femke Reijerman
Joel and Kate Booy, Studio Truly Truly
www.studiotrulytruly.com