words Anna Bates

Design Academy Eindhoven is presenting work by its new crop of graduates under the title Still – although many of the pieces involve movement.

Among the showcase is Philippe Malouin’s Dervish Ceiling Fan, a chandelier made of 460 felt strips that doubles up as a ceiling fan. Controlled by a dimmer, the spinning shade allows light to spill across the ceiling when put on high speed, and creates a soft, focused light when on low.


image René Van Der Hulst

Adam Farlie’s light shade reverses expectations – the interior is pitch black, while the exterior of the shade is illuminated. “I reversed its primary function to throw light downwards,” says Farlie. By using light-absorbing flock to line the interior, the shade appears to have a base but draws the unsuspecting hand into a deep black hole.

Pepe Heykoop’s Lightness of Being, a 3.5m-high lamp covered in a “hairy seamless skin”, will take pride of place at the exhibition because the tutors had told Heykoop that the project was impossible. Composed of six flexible joints, the lamp can be arranged into whatever position you want, but on pressing a pedal the lamp slowly “collapses” like a wilting plant, so a new position can be built.



Hans Tan is showing a timepiece that avoids the preconceived aesthetics of a clock. Literalising how you read time, it uses words rather than numbers and looks more like a bulletin board.