Modern interior designs need to be flexible. One example: For a dinner with more guests than expected, you can easily and quickly move the table to the preferred position. Or when you want to move your desk closer to the window, the lounge chair is put into some other corner in no time. But the ceiling light? Usually, it is fixed upon moving in and only removed when you leave for another place.
Lili is different. You don't have to adapt to a bad lighting situation. Lili adapts to your needs and it is moved as easily and low-tech as flicking a switch. You just pull Lili right to where you need it – and it's all done mechanically.
Lili was developed as a project during the course „Smart Lighting" at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam/Germany. With a focus on function, the personal challenge was to improve the lighting situation for midsized rooms in one-room apartments or shared flats. Having professional experience with smart homes and room automation, I was often confronted with complaints from clients in regard to controlling „smart" devices, especially when dealing with the simple task of turning a light on and off. That is why I designed Lili to be operated as easily and low tech as possible by its users. And the use of simple mechanics, in this case just four sets of blocks and tackles, makes this almost fail-proof.
The Hardware As easily as Lili is useable, the same holds true for the individual parts. All parts of the lamp's body are effortlessly separable, allowing replacing and repairing them in case of damages. And separate recycling at the very end.
The light itself is not fixed to a certain lamp type, the models can vary according to current standards. While originally a LED panel to be screwed in was envisioned for Lili, retrofits and OLEDs are also possible as long as the replacement of the light source is easy enough to handle for a typical electronic repair shop or a tech-savy owner.
The Look Lili's look is inspired by urban landscapes with their street lights and overhead lines. The challenge was to carry over that outside-feeling to the inside, while keeping a bit of the technical and rough city look. The final design consists of not one but four lighting elements and accentuates the flexibility aspects of the product by changing its appearance in the different positions of the room.