Header: bDot Architecture
The Sketch Lamp is an avant-garde lamp designed by Brian Roberson of bDot Architecture that is both artistic and practical, embodying what is commonly known as innovation. The inspiration behind this lamp is as common as it is unique, a paradox well represented in the piece: a 12-gauge hanger wire, commonly used for suspending ceiling grids with fluorescent fixtures, is behind the unusual form.
The design process started with manually distorting the hanger wire, twisting and bending it by hand to form a dynamic base. Handcrafted, the lines of this lamp remind one of an effusive sketch and art nouveau’s curves, forming a sculptural form that looks exactly like a lamp while making it completely different from any other.
Complementing the wire base is a custom-built plexiglass canopy shaped using a heat gun, which softens the material and allows it to be moulded with gentle pressure. Due to this method, each part of the lamp is uniquely shaped, making every piece unique.
Despite its unconventional materials and form, the Sketch Lamp still keeps all key elements of a normal lamp, such as a switch and cord, carefully selected and placed to blend with the lamp’s overall design. In the end, this becomes more of a conversational piece, as anyone who looks at it gets to answer the simple question it naturally poses: “What is a lamp?”
