Designed by Architect Taeg Nishimoto, Undulae is a series of table and pendant lamps made of cornstarch-based bioplastic tubes. Using the characteristics of shrinking and undulating when the bioplastic is in the drying process, the formal manipulation is left for each tube to form itself.
There are two types of the application of this bioplastic tubes as a lighting fixture. One is a table lamp that uses the singular tube standing upright above a disk that contains the light bulb.
The other is a pendant lamp that hangs multiple tubes from a disk above that contains the light bulb at the center.
There are two lengths for tubes; one is about 36 cm and the other about 50 cm. The placement and combination of bioplastic tubes for pendant lamps can be rearranged by placing them at different locations of the disk’s holes.The color at the edge of tubes is applied through adding the food coloring to the bioplastic mix.
Bioplastic is made from the mixture of cornstarch, water, vinegar and glycerin with particular proportion and mixing process.
Bioplastic mixture is spread on a sheet of parchment paper with another sheet on top to make a sandwiched unit. This unit is held with two pipes along the longitudinal edges another inside which keep the drying unit in place by gravity.
When the bioplastic is left to dry, the bioplastic’s nature of shrinking creates a condition on parchment paper with a crease pattern in one direction, which in turn becomes the texture of the surface of bioplastic tubes. The longitudinal sides that are exposed to the air also create unique undulating pattern along the edges while drying.
Designer: Taeg Nishimoto
