Design

My inspiration is drawn from many sources. Marine organisms, arthropods, flying things, automobile streamlining... a complete list would go on and on. Very few forms come to me immediately. Rather, it's a long process of drawing until the right form finally appears. When that moment arrives, there is a certain biological right-ness to how it appears to my eye, as if I am channeling into existence a living thing from a distant exoplanet teeming with its own ocean ecosystems. A thing I cannot see directly but through iterating over and over I can approach. The result is an evolutionary process that strongly resembles biological changes in time. I don't think it's an accident; it's a strong analogy between an organism adapting morphology to environment and a design taking shape to match what I see as its correct form, somewhere out there on a distant world.

—Eric

Raw Materials

Each living thing on Earth begins with carbon molecules. Physically, the Light Forms begin with metal—bronze and aluminum. A ductile, beautiful material used in monumental sculpture since prehistory, bronze develops a distinctive patina over time. Complementing this is aluminum—lustrous, lightweight, and noncorroding—an ideal material for both structure and shape.

Machining

Unlike the additive cell growth of earth life, a Light Form's constituent pieces are machined one by one from solid metal stock. Our machining work combines both sculptural and precision processes. The flowing body curves and tendon-like inner connections are carved like forms shaped by nature. Yet the interlocking fitment of piece to piece demands absolute precision on every contact surface, down to minute tolerances. A final hand fitting and polishing step ensures each piece's function and appearance.

Hand Assembly

Like a fine mechanical wristwatch, each Light Form requires many hours of intricate hand assembly to put together over 100 unique parts. Each one of these dozens of components fits precisely into another to compose a whole coming to life. The final electric wiring gives the Light Form its signature luminant glow.

Joining Metal

Inside each Light Form, metal is joined to metal not with welds but by precisely interlocking slots and keyways using fittings inspired by Japanese wood architecture.

As both a mechanical assembly and a living thing, each Light Form can be disassembled into its original constituent parts- not molecules of carbon, but pieces of metal.

Left: a sao-tsugi joint used in Japanese wood architecture. The vertical "keys" and matched slots lock two large horizontal pieces together. No glue is used.

A Light Form's waist and upper leg assembly shown both as its constituent parts and in context as an assembled whole. The stub on each leg slides into a corresponding slot in the waist and is locked in place by a horizontal "key." Matching channels cut in both allow a screw to be then used as a pin.

This method, developed specifically for our works, allows for assemblies of arbitrary complexity to be joined in any orientation and for repeated disassembly.

Articulation

No life is static. Neither are our works. Each Light Form is articulated at key linkages to allow repositioning of all body parts and to shape and reflect emitted light. No Light Form shares its exact opening mechanism with another. Rather, each presents a unique surprise and delight to experience.

Ecosystem

Life does not exist in isolation. Every Light Form is one part of an ecosystem. Predatory forms emerging out of darkness, glowing with fervor. Fast, agile swimmers darting forward out of their reach. Filter feeders gliding gracefully through the etheric medium. We intend for all of our works to be complementary to each other and to be displayable in their biological context, with the light from one illuminating the many surfaces of another in new, unexpected ways.