Sustainable rattan lace lighting
This collection was developed for Viet Quang, a bamboo and rattan SME in Vietnam. The project was carried out under the umbrella of two institutions - SPIN and UNIDO.
The collection is comprised of "lace doilies" made from an indigenous Vietnamese rattan species called ‘garden rattan’. The rattan gets its name from the fact that it is cultivated in homestead gardens: harvesting this rattan does not endanger the forests, and it can be sustainably grown, managed and harvested. Since garden rattan grows in North Vietnam, it is physically closer to the SME, thus making transport cost effective and ecological as well.
The rattan has been used in the products in the most natural manner possible i.e. without bleaching or treatment by diesel. Garden rattan is naturally very flexible. The collection taps into this natural property and also the skill of the SME in making exquisite, intricate knotted forms to create a range of "lace doily" based lighting units, that fuse Eastern and Western cultural capital.
The design is constructed from different elements, and does not require exactly standardized components, thus catering to the limitations of handcrafted production. The products have been designed to facilitate outsourcing production of the components to nearby homes, where women can be engaged in producing the ‘doilies’ which can then be assembled at a central location.