Role
Sole Industrial Designer
Scope
Core product
Manufacturing
Packaging
Brand identity
3D rendering
Concept
ICO is a multifunctional modular desk lamp inspired by architectural design that helps people illuminate and manage their workspace.
Outcome
I designed, manufactured, branded, packaged, and sold a series of lamps that combined lighting and organization into one desk object, making the workspace feel more intentional, organized, and easier to manage.
Design Process
Ideation
Brutalist architecture informed the foundational direction here. The use of raw materials, strong geometric language, and function without decoration shaped the early thinking. The challenge was creating a modular desk object that combined lighting, storage, and organization through a system of interconnected forms.
Form Exploration
Initial prototyping used concrete as the primary material. It aligned with the aesthetic direction but introduced problems that compounded quickly in practice. Surface finish was inconsistent across pours, molds degraded after a single use, and the cured weight created real shipping and handling constraints. The casting enclosure itself turned out to be the better solution. It was cost effective, structurally sound, and light enough to ship without issue. The direction shifted and the form resolved cleanly from there.
Concept Refinement
With the material direction established, the focus moved to how the components would relate structurally and visually. The lamp shade, pencil holder, and base needed to function as a unified object while remaining independent in use. Proportions, offsets, and the relationship between volumes were worked out through a second round of sketching and physical modeling.
Construction
Each unit was hand-assembled and designed for a friction fit system with no fasteners or adhesives. Wood grain was aligned across panel seams to eliminate visible joints. The frosted acrylic cap was CNC cut to tolerance, nesting flush inside the shade for even light diffusion. Brushed aluminum tubes were cut, polished, and seated into precisely dimensioned vinyl extrusion channels.
Final Product
The side dish was dimensioned to sleeve directly over the lamp shade, allowing the complete set to pack into a single unit for shipping. The bag itself followed the same design logic as the product, a brown kraft bag with a white rectangle at the handle, letters cut so the bag material fills them. The final object was built from pine, aluminum, acrylic, and PVC, compact, lightweight, and designed to sit comfortably on a desk or in a corner.
Brand Extensions
The product identity was carried through a set of supplementary brand materials including a mock user guide and product detail sheet. Designed in the same visual language as the object itself.
Highlights
10+
Units sold
Sold Out
At first pop-up
Solo
Self-manufactured and shipped
I built a set of 8 and showcased them at a local pop-up. It was the first time the product was in front of customers and the response validated all the macro and micro decisions from the form to the brand. The price reflected the craft and because people saw the value in it, the lamps sold out and later, additional units were built and shipped out.