18 Christian Flindt With all the complex technology that lives inside modern light sources, you don’t necessarily think of a lighting designer as someone with a penchant for wood carving. Yet this is precisely the approach that led Christian Flindt to develop a unique lighting concept of striking beauty and quiet power. Here, Flindt muses about the healthy obsession that sparked his latest lighting design idea, reflects on twelve years of working with Louis Poulsen, and imagines the myriad of spaces that will become home to the Flindt Wall. Carving out the perfect light “In the process of creating the Flindt Bollard, I carved out nearly everything I came across,” Flindt admits, conjuring up an image of a trail of objects bearing the marks of the designer’s tools. “The initial idea came from a cutout in a wooden stick. Then I moved on to a bunch of long cylindrical cardboard tubes until I got the light coming out just right.” Flindt himself calls the process somewhat of an obsession. However, the resulting design, which pairs a slim cylinder with an opening that channels light precisely where it’s needed, serves as undeniable proof of passion’s role in creativity and innovation. Unconventional efforts, as we know, can produce unexpectedly satisfying results. From ground to wall After the success of the Flindt Bollard, requests for a wall version poured in, sending the designer back to the drawing board. The work first led to the creation of a wall-mounted version of the fixture that Louis Poulsen now produces for custom orders. But, having begun the journey of cutting into objects of all shapes and sizes, Flindt set out to create a new wall fixture from scratch; one that clearly belonged to the same family but boldly took on a new form. Like the Flindt Bollard, the Flindt Wall is made out of cast metal. “Many other wall fixtures on the market are made out of thin sheet metal or acrylic,” says Flindt. “The Flindt Wall fixture is very strong and able to withstand impact and, in some scenarios, even vandalism. It’s also waterproof, so it can be mounted either indoors or outdoors, which isn’t very common for a wall fixture design.” The Flindt Wall design and experience The front of the Flindt Wall features the principal cutout, which makes space for the main light source. This light is directed toward the ground beneath and to each side, with some of the light reflected out into the surrounding space. “The main surface works as one big reflector that angles light out into the room,” Flindt explains. “And because this surface has a matte, grained powder lacquering, the fixture renders and gives the light a textural feel with the gradient from top to bottom.” As with the bollard, the surface of the Flindt Wall’s main reflector is three-dimensional and concave. “This makes it hard to determine the depth of the cut, which, to me, makes it more interesting,” says Flindt. The fixture’s slightly curved edge catches the light and adds a slight glow, which defines the bottom part of the fixture. The top part of the wall lamp contains the light source, and a small slit in the back lets light out onto the wall behind the fixture, creating an illuminated backdrop and defining the top part of the Flindt Wall. “I wanted the design to have a soft, calm feel – but with modern technology,” Flindt says. “I live just next to the old Radio House in Copenhagen, designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen, who also created the Radiohus [Radio House] Pendant for Louis Poulsen. I could see the Flindt Wall melt into this architecture – but I could also see it hanging on a wall in the
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