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This is the Lumenique, LLC Lighted Art and Design Studio blog. Articles here are provided as a supplement to the main Lumenique, LLC web site, to offer additional detail, process insight, and technical development items of interest to studio customers. For information about processes and insight into the inspiration behind Lighted Art Object creation, explore the Lighted Objects Menu in the right hand menu. Note that some articles will appear in multiple categories.

Behind the Scenes – Art is an Exploration

Art is an exploration of ideas. The operative word here is exploration. This means following paths that are not necessarily well worn, just to see where they lead.

Focus and Development

My collection of sculptural work is a product of developed craftsmanship and process. While many of these have included light sources, my recent works in process do not. Lighted or unlighted, I welcome any opportunity for commissioned work where I can apply the craftsmanship developed over decades toward realizing the desires of customers. This includes art as well as commercial model making.

Behind the Scenes

Behind the scenes, I frequently re-visited the touch stones of my past as a graphic artist in the 2D universe – which has includes pen and ink, pencil, marker, and various fast drying graphic, sign and acrylic paints for various graphic works, and the use of computer generated art.

However, to keep my creative process alive and fresh, I frequently explore new mediums. This has included glass fusing, metal forging, and concrete molding. Most recently I have ben exploring oil painting. This is not a medium I felt compelled to work with, as the paints don’t suit me well. They take too long to dry, require too many steps to finish, and involve techniques outside my comfort zone. This is why I am doing it, as this is where you find fresh insight and new ideas hiding.

The works are not intended for sale, nor do I see myself engaging in oil painting for sale. I do not intend to become a master in the great sob-land art world of painting. The paintings carry no pretense or intent connected, they are simply for fun.

Samples

Here are the first few paintings and what I had in mind doing them. There are more in process, that I will post when they are completed.

This painting explored the idea of painting a subject that emits light, and expressing that.

The Happy Squirrel is based on a photograph my wife took of a squirrel sitting on top of a peanut feeder she put out fore the Nut Hatches and Wood Peckers in the neighborhood. He had polished off the content, and was mocking the pathetic anti-squirrel hanger above him, which he defeated easily. It was an early morning raid. This is also officially my first oil painting.

These are Schuco wind up toy cars. I inherited the pair from my father when he passed. They struck me as strange, as I had no idea that he collected such things. While I like the toys, having them on display exposes them to dirt, while we don’t really have a place for them. So, it seemed a fitting tribute to create a painting of them -, on a shelf – that is more easily placed and displayed, while the cars are stored safely and cleanly away in their original packaging.

Retrospective – A Custom Home

I generally don’t reveal details from customer projects publically. My approach has always been that it is the choice of the homeowner to expose their homes, not mine. This has left me at a disadvantage in promoting design services, as many projects I have done the most extensive work on are custom homes. I have made a few exceptions over the years, mainly construction process images of details, or projects in which the owners have later given tours of for various reasons.

When a home is put up for sale, the proverbial cat is out of the bag – so I feel it’s fair to share what is being published at that time.

To that point. One of the largest custom home projects I had done heading into the mid 1990’s has recently been listed for sale. In this case, I was privileged to serve as Director of Design and Marketing for Visa. The home was for its owner, so we were given free reign to create and build in one direct process. This project included a comprehensive array of designs of custom lighting, furniture, flooring, built-ins, and accessories, as well as controls commissioning of a 900+ circuit Lutron dimming system. There were many members on the team, including Visa Lighting as fixture manufacturer, Doug Schaefer as Visa product designer – who worked with me and the engineering team to execute over 300+ custom lighting products in just over one year’s time, and James Kuderer (then with AJ Piech) who brought the woodwork to life in the customs we created. Construction was completed in 1994, so the designs have stood for more than 26 years.

I thought this an opportunity to share some of my favorites from this MidWest Prairie inspired home.

Note: Images are from the current home listing site.

Main central gallery pendants

Dining room, which includes custom 14 person dining table, banquette, side boards, and lighting

Central interior stairway, which included custom railing and suspended birds in flight sculpture.

The wine cellar, which included interior design, furniture, counters, and lighting.

Den #1, including custom flooring, lighting, desk, and tables

Looking at the listing and these images, I still feel a great deal of connection to this home, and its owner, as we spent so much time together in the process of completing it.

The home is now listed for sale at Realtor.com.

As a side note; This is an image of the design center where the design and engineering team made a space for itself just before tackling the home. This is where all of the lighting products were designed and engineered. You can see on in the foreground a mockup of a stem assembly that was destined for the home, while the face panel of one of its sconces is on the lower working table.

Circadian Light – Is it Reality or a Manifestation of Cognitive Bias?

The Lighting Industry suffers chronically from the ‘Law of the Instrument’ – a form of cognitive bias:

If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.
Abraham Maslow

To Illustrate

Thanks to Those Who Attended

A special thank you to those who attended my presentation on 3D Printing opportunities for Bespoke Lighting at Lightfair. I enjoyed delivering the course and the dialog that followed.

I am fully committed to assist anyone who attended, as well as others interested, in building their own strategy and approach for integrating 3D Printing into their design processes. This includes answering any questions, or assisting by sharing information and information sources I’ve accumulated over the years at no cost. As noted in prior posts on this topic, my approach is targeted at practical end uses today, for creating unique low volume items, making study and approval modelas and use of 3D printing for iterative processes in design. My approach includes use of accessible technologies that modest budgets can afford. If this is of interest, contact me through email, and I will get back to you right away.

Cleaning Up the Social Media Connections Collections

I have come to realize that Social Media connections – not in some way relevant or directly experienced in other contexts – are unnecessary. Further, these extraneous connections can be serious nuisances in being the source of spam and other activities I have become impatient with – as they exploit the standing as a connection, anonymous in their numbers.

To this end… In the interest of refining my Social Media connections on Facebook/Instagram and LinkedIn, I have engaged in a significant amount of culling. I am attempting to keep connected to those in the design industry, and those I have either direct personal or business experience with. I have closed my Twitter account, simply because I saw no use for it and have no idea what it is for (must be too old or something).

I’m removing businesses and individuals that have connected for the purpose of soliciting me for services or products, especially those I have zero interest in. I have removed suppliers and members of suppliers I have no experience with. I’ve further removed individuals I do not personally know that have nebulous personal descriptions, like “Savior of mankind from the ravages of poor leadership in times of the blah blah blah” as I find them silly.

In this activity, I may have inadvertently deleted a connection or two that may be disappointed at being removed. For this I apologize, I can assure you that there is nothing personal going on here, and hope you will reach out and let me know by either requesting a connection again, or by email explaining what a jerk I was for removing you. Accidents happen. When you are grinding through a list of thousands of names to get down to a few hundred, there is going to be a few unintended casualties.

If you read this and think it is an opportunity to get into my new, leaner, meaner, more relevant connections list… think again. I will be using the “ignore” option with far greater diligence than ever before.

Opportunities for 3D Printing in Bespoke Lighting – Lightfair Presentation Sneak Preview

If you are attending Lightfair this year, and are interested in the use of 3D Printing in deploying custom and special lighting ideas, I hope you will have to time to attend my presentation:

Opportunities for Bespoke Lighting Using 3D Print Technology:
Session L22T14
June 22, 5:00PM to 6:00P

Course Description: 3D printing is poised to re-invigorate the inclusion of bespoke lighting solutions beyond conventional manufacturing. From the creation of a one-off feature art object, to printing optics to produce taylored light distributions, 3D printing eliminates the roadblocks of tooling costs and wait times, to go directly from concept to end product. Further, designers already adept at 3D modeling, can directly participate in the design of a finished product, with fewer interpretive steps by others. 3D printing can deliver components, or complete finished works, in a myriad of materials. The revolution is coming, and it is going to be amazing!

Come See My Work at the Other Art Fair in Chicago Next Week!

Use the promo code “ARTIST50” to receive a 50% discount from this invitation.

There will be hundreds of great artists exhibiting their work as well, so come in and enjoy the show, and say hello if you get a chance.

Calling on All Lighting Companies Offering 3D Printed Lighting Products

In the process of completing my presentation on Opportunities for Bespoke Lighting Using 3D Printing Technology at Lightfair 2022, I would like to include mention and full credit to anyone using 3D print technology to provide customers either custom or customized luminaires.

I am asking for a simple, brief description of what product is on offer, and what technology is being used (3D Print approach, such as FDM, SLA, etc..). I would like to have images of at least 3 examples, as well as a short description of how customers or specifiers avail themselves of these products. If you have any suggestions or additional comments on this topic, I am all ears, send them to me and I will make sure to include them in course development.

Full credit for all content used will be included. I will also provide a preview of the content received for verification and approval prior to the show.

If you are in research, or 3D Print process development, including offering of 3D print services, or 3D Print equipment and technology that might be used to make lighting products, please feel free to offer your input as well.

Please reach out to me by email at: kwillmorth@lumenique.com.

Thanks to everyone who is already providing content. I believe this is going to be a fun and informative presentation.

See everyone in June!

2022 – Presentations and Exhibits Confirmed So Far

As of this month, I have been selected by the following venues to present in upcoming events.

The Other Art Fair by SAATCHI ART – April 21-24

This is a fine arts exhibition featuring selected artists from around the world, that is being held in the Fulton Center in Chicago on April 21-24. See The Other Art Fair for more details. I will be exhibiting a range of lighted architectural objects, as well as a few unlighted works being completed specifically for this show.

Lightfair 2022 – Wednesday June 22 – 5:00-6:00PM

I will be presenting “Opportunities for Bespoke Lighting Using 3D Print Technology “ exploring where and how 3D printing fits into realizing custom and special lighting product needs, and where it is headed with emerging new technologies.

You can review more details on this presentation on the Lightfair Conference information page under the technologies sub heading. Course number L22T14.

I am preparing and collecting physical samples of various production methods and materials to include in the presentation.

More to Come

I am in the process of securing other opportunities to exhibit and present, as well as pulling together a few videos during the year on methods of using new technologies in the design and final production process.

I am hopeful that 2022 will be a break out year from the restrictions and lock downs that have damped efforts to get out and interact with people live.

Hope to see you soon!