Marta Bordes: Elastic Lights

With her collection of articulated lamps Marta Bordes brings movement and play into ceramics questioning the role of traditional ceramic objects.

We often see ceramics in our everyday objects but rarely in movement or as part of a mechanism. We tend to think that ceramics objects are brittle and heavy and we see them mainly as decorative objects or food containers.

However, ceramics are widely used in industry and technology in many technical and mechanical applications, but those are generally unnoticed by the common user.

The aim of Marta Bordes’ project Elastic Lights is to challenge traditional ceramics by designing an articulated system that explores the technical properties of the material and brings movement into ceramics.

In this case the system allows the lamps to rotate in order to direct the light, but as a system it could also be applied to connect and articulate ceramic pieces for different functions.

Simple geometric components linked by elastic cords reveal the function as a visual feature. The playfulness of the system invites you to manipulate the lamps and enjoy the tactility and the feeling of the pieces sliding smoothly around each other.