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Kent Blazek's "Nexus Kitset" Lamp

By Ray Hu - August 30, 2011

in Lighting

Industrial designer Kent Blazek is pleased to present a new pendant lamp design, the "Nexus Kitset," designed and manufactured in his native New Zealand.

The some-assembly-required pendant lamp actually consists of 60 identical blackened okoume plywood pieces, held together by plastic rivets; when the lamp is fully assembled, the pieces form asphere—or technically, a "deltoidal hexecontahedron"—half a meter in diameter, with a basic light fixture at its heart. "This is helped by the flexibility and memory of plywood itself, which when overlapped and connected with the plastic rivets, creates an even pull, creating the spherical shape."

The effect vaguely echoes the regularity of rattan, where the negative space forms a lattice of alternating parallelograms, while the color and construction preserve an element of mystery: "when [the light is] on, the inside of the lamp actually appears a bright golden color, picking up on accents of the underlying wood color/grain."

Blazek also has another allusion in mind:The pattern is reminiscent of aerial shots of town and city street grid work; an urban sprawl. The name NEXUS, literally means "A connection or series of connections linking two or more things," which reflects both its general structure, and embodied in the idea of an urban map.

Last but not least, the "Nexus Kitset" comes "packaged in a unique 160mm3 corrugated card[board] box, with cutout detail."

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Claire

13 years ago

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maybe the idea was not necessary to create an entirely original concept, but rather present a new aesthetic which has been achieved by working from a different base polyhedron as described
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cp

13 years ago

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these comments don't imply 'that no other designer in NZ can ever make a modular kitset lamp', they suggest that if you are gonna copy the size, shape, material, colour, method of construction and assembly, but change the shape of the individual components slightly, you are gonna be criticised.
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Josh

13 years ago

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I agree with Claire. It's unfair to call it a total rip off when clearly it's not. It's not a coral lamp, it's quite clearly a different and original interpretation of a modular pendant lamp. David Trubridge has fantastic work that is unique to him but a modular lamp is not exclusive. It's disappointing that a few have taken such a negative view. I see the same similarities as the other people have posted but I would not go so far as to say it's a rip off. What these comments imply is that no other designer in NZ can ever make a modular kitset lamp. That seems absurd.
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Claire

13 years ago

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Yes its a similar concept, but I think because Trubridge is so well known that most people will draw a comparison. It is however an original take on similar concept. People should google works by Lazerian, and also the Moresque lamp, which is even a how to guide for a generic modular pendant, to see that this sort of work is not just reserved for Trubridge. These are tried and true structures, and this is in my opinion a great interpretation. I suppose when something becomes this popular, there will always be those who scrutinize.

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Jamie Yau

13 years ago

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I know its been said but is needs to be said again. This is a blatent rip off of trubridges work. C'mon, atleast try to be some what origonal! I Have no respect for designers like Blazek
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Sam

13 years ago

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C'mon man.. we would let you off if you didnt know who David Trubridge was, but being from NZ as well, not cool. Think up your own ideas
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George

13 years ago

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I prefer the lines and geometric look of this one however... it has a more classic feel

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Matt

13 years ago

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Yeah, I reckon....and he's a fellow kiwi
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M. Roberts

13 years ago

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Yeah there are similarities... like the rectangular pattern on this one better. Also love the box!
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AJ

13 years ago

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You can say that again. It even looks like it shares the same connector.
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Fraz

13 years ago

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This design seems very similar to David Trubridge's Coral lamp.

http://www.davidtrubridge.com/Designs/lighting/kitsets/coral/
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