Circular lighting range designed by 3D artists - made by humans and robots in the studio

Author: Distil Ennui | Post Date: 12-09-2024

This lighting range is designed on the idea that beautiful, playful light can make your world a far more interesting place to live in. Designed and manufactured to make them affordable to as many people as possible, using processes that are as circular and sustainable as current technology will allow; enriching spaces with beautiful lighting.

'Beehive' by MannaFabric.ru with a Flame LED.

Of course we made extensive studies to see what is currently out there as we developed our own processes & designs. We have found this to be one of the most direct ways in which we’re able to express ourselves and understand other peoples interests. This entire range will expand over the coming months to allow conversation, understanding, and delight with our customers.

Founded on the belief that great products could be made at low cost without exploitative labor practices, invasive materials or requiring large production runs in order to turn a small profit.

We do this by working with past resident artist utilising a combination of robotic 3D printers and hand fabrication manufacturing techniques. Our artists are all paid a royalty for each and every unit that goes out into the world. This remunerates the artists & designers of each product in a meaningful & long term way. This is an important cornerstone of the Distil Ennui Studio, supporting artists as their career develops, reciprocating great work in a fair and often overlooked way. Choosing not to pay our collaborators by the hour or for each individual design, but instead paying a royalty that remunerates on the results of their creations directly from each and every light that reaches a customers hands.

Since the studio invested in 3d scanning & printing back in 2019 we have learnt that this technology allows us move from idea to a physical product in a matter of days, even hours instead of weeks, thus eliminating the need for mass production mould making processes and factory supply chains. All of our products are made in the Distil Ennui Studio: printed, assembled by humans & robots.

SUSTAINABILITY
The studio has a long history of sustainable projects, and this lighting range is no exception, Being more sustainable in the processes we use and the materials allow us to achieve an ethical and circular range with real and tangible provenance.

The filament in our printers is made from a minimum of 50% recycled plastic as opposed to virgin material. Our 3D printed products are made using a combination of PLA and PETG plastic filaments.

PLA (Polylactic acid)
Made from a variety of renewable sources we use cornstarch filament, making it biodegradable and using a recycled plastic base. Using recycled materials and a cornstarch base we are able to produce these products with nearly 70% less energy than if the production made use of traditional virgin plastic.

Our PLA printed lighting designs are environmentally friendly when disposed of via composting or commercial recycling paths.

PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate glycol)
Can be recycled using a chemical process and breaking it down into its original form, and it is through this that is becomes more environmentally friendly - however; if poorly disposed of PETG will take years to decompose. We therefore only print in the minimal way using PETG where necessary.

The glycol in recycled PETG filament allows better heat properties as well as having more crystal like clarity in the final form offering a more dynamic design range in the product.

What is 3D printing ?
3D printing falls into the category of additive manufacturing - this means that instead of subtracting materials as we build such as building an object from wood, cutting the material & putting it together with remnants & offcuts leftover. 3D printing precisely deposits the material into the form of the object more precisely, with far less material waste left over.

The Distil Ennui lighting range is printed in FDM (Fuse Deposition Modelling). Picture a glue gun that you squeeze continuously and smoothly in precise layers to build an object. Fun fact: this was invented in the late 80s, but the patent on it expired, so a whole community of people developed around it to create an open source technology, allowing anyone to access it. This meant that over the course of around 10 years, we went from a flammable, dangerous, extremely expensive machine to having a viable way to produce products, and desktop access to whoever wanted to experiment with the process and its capabilities.

'Vortex' designed by Artem Hryshchenko with a 120 LED Flame Candle

How 3D printing affects design & production in the studio ?
One of the coolest things about using 3D printing is the ability to take a design from concept to product almost instantly. We can immediately see a design tangibly, which also lets us get it to you exponentially faster, and implement changes and feedback as we get it.

So what does this mean for production ?
Producing via injection moulding, which is the traditional method for forming complex shapes, is extremely expensive! The moulds need to be ordered in bulk, and are built for mass production, meaning there are a lot of expenses to recoup, and the barrier to entry for designers is much higher.

In our case, this means we’d spend a lot more up front, and likely have to charge a lot more for each and every product. We also wouldn’t get to experiment as much with our designs, and produce them with such a quick turnaround! Using 3D printing allows us to go from design → a product in your home in a matter of weeks, instead of months or even years. Since we design & make everything in house, there’s no waiting for samples, or re-ordering of moulds. This also allows us to develop our designs organically through tactile experience so they actually warrant production in the first place, making use of 3D printing - both functionally and aesthetically.

Our design process.
You’ll notice that our products aren’t completely smooth to the eye or touch, and this is for a few reasons! One of them is accessibility: we design & print our products with varying layer thickness, edging towards the thicker scale because although thinner layers would mean a smoother surface, it would take longer to print & require higher pricing to accommodate this lengthy robot production time. We made the decision to make them this way so we can bring them to you at a friendly price point.

We also find them more visually interesting this way, by using the technology to our advantage we are able to create something that highlights and makes use of everything 3D printing offers such as infinite shapes, strength while being lightweight.

Remembering of course these are lights, and these imperfections and print lines offer a magical prism like light effect that varies depending on the LED build option you select. ‘Vortex’ for example our first product launched has a double print layer, the inner one is shaped around the LED bulb, and the second is for the outer final form. This offers a delicious light play for instance with the Flame LED.

We do not hide imperfections or filament lines, neither do we limit our designs to those that try to hide filament lines. We like how the filament looks, and think it gives the lamps character and textural interest, making each one slightly different and unique.