Organic light and shade

The Japanese word “in-ei” means shadow, shadiness or nuance, and designer Issey Miyake, Tokyo, Japan, named his new lighting collection IN-EI ISSEY MIYAKE to highlight the organic combination of light and shade that emanates from his unusual lamp shades. The shades consist of ECOPET paper, a recycled paper stock derived from used PET plastic bottles. Teijin Ltd., a Tokyo producer of high-performance fibers, makes the wet-laid nonwoven fabric with a texture and permeability similar to traditional Japanese paper.

The folded ECOPET paper, which has superior shape-retaining properties, allows the lampshades—designed in various forms and sizes—to be stored flat when not in use. The IN-EI lamps’ Italian manufacturer Artemide curated an installation featuring IN-EI sculptural lamps at the Clerkenwell Design Week exhibit in London, May 21-23, 2013, shortly after the product launch. A mathematical program with 3-D geometric principles ensures that the lamps maintain shape without the need for an internal frame. For more, see Issey Miyake news.