After having built the deck furniture in Gerrit Rietveld's style, I had an idea for a lamp that used the right angles of that style on a smaller scale. I also started describing things that aren't that direct re-making of his actual pieces "Dutch Modern" instead of using his name.
This is because, while the copyrights on his designs are not only expired, but the stark, functional nature of this style means actual copyright is deeply debatable in applying at all. That's because furniture copyright can't cover elements that are structural. And, this style, minus the paint, is pretty much nothing BUT structure.
However, his family DOES own a trademark on the use of his name. So, things like this lamp which are new designs using that style shouldn't have his name. Anyway, that little digression into IP law aside, this one was fun.
I had been looking at both a ton of historical stuff related to this topic, but also Japanese furniture and lamp designs when the idea for this lamp struck me. I headed to Fusion 360 to see if what was in my head would actually work.
When that confirmed the idea, I put together a cut list and went to buy wood.
The staves in this case are 1/2" maple. The panels for this design could be any hardwood, but i wanted the contrast. Fortunately, they're relatively small, so this design is a great opportunity to use more expensive hardwoods, since it's not like dozens of board feet go into it. I found some amazing rosewood in 1/4" panels.
Assembly was glue and 23 gauge pin nails to essentially hold things while the glue dried, but we still clamped things. I finished with shellac. The lamp is a simple socket mounted into a plate of rosewood to match the panels. A "test tube" style "Edison" LED bulb provides the lumens.
The finished lamp sits on top of the Pioneer stereo we refurbished with a new bluetooth amp and LED lighting (need to write that project up yet).
I think this one has great potential to be an item for sale. The thing is that finishing it when assembled didn't work great. But, finishing it in advance means gluing surfaces that either need to be sanded to give good contact or masked for finishing before assembly.
Which is, fundamentally, the challenge of turning something you make one of into a saleable product you can produce in numbers. Which is big part of what we're doing in the shop to figure out what the eventual retirement business sells and looks like.
Anyway, here's the project gallery.
