Making a Spring-themed Light

Spring-themed light

Light feature:  The idea of this light is that it can be made from found/re-cycled materials reused to create something of interest.  I will be using a variety of plastic bags and bottles plus a few extra items to create a butterfly bedside lamp.  I will have a flower to display as a complimentary item to the butterfly considering it is spring day and all…  The idea with this project is to inspire people to use items found round the house to make any shape/object that can be internally or externally lit, we just happened to be showing a bedside lamp for kids in this example.

 

Materials:

• A bayonet lamp holder
• Variety of shopping carrier bags
• Variety of bottles and their lids
• Some bits of pipe
• Coat hanger wire
• Some pipe cleaners
• Cable Ties
• Selection of coloured paints
• 10 Min Epoxy or hot Glue gun
• Heavy item like a wood off cut or the likes for a base.

 Tools:

 

• Sharp knife
• Scissors
• A drill and a selection of bits
• A Butter knife

 

Instructions:

 

• Select a bottle or another suitable item used for the abdomen of the butterfly.
• Select a few bags with the colouring you wish to display on the butterfly wings.  This can be painted if need be at a later stage
• Cut and fold the bags to a desires wing shape using a few bags for each side.
• Twist and knot/cable tie them together.
• Cut a hole in the cap to accommodate the lamp holder.
• Fit the lamp holder to the cap.
• Make a small hole in the bottle.
• Insert the rip cord through the bottle.
• Attach the wings to the bottle/lamp holder using cable ties.
• Add leg detail (Cable Ties)
• Add feeler detail (Pipe Cleaners)
• Add Coat Hangar wire stand
• Thread coat hangar wire and the rip cord through a piece of pipe.
• Drill a small hole in the base and insert the wire to stand the whole feature on the base.

 

The Cape Craft Design Institute

The Cape Craft & Design Institute (CCDI) was set up in 2001 to promote and grow craft as an economic sector in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A not-for-profit company, the CCDI is a joint initiative of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The CCDI has also been adopted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) as a model craft hub, to serve as a template for the establishment of similar craft institutes in other provinces of South Africa.

Why does the Western Cape need a Craft Institute?

About 40000 people work in the craft sector in South Africa and contribute R2 billion a year to the economy. Crafters range from the lone roadside wire artist to the hundreds of women making beadwork for a non-profit project, or the potter who runs a well-equipped studio producing high-value items. For thousands of poor people in the Western Cape, craft is an entry point into the mainstream economy. Yet these craft producers often do not know how to market their goods, raise bank loans or improve their skills and products. With this in mind, the provincial government commissioned a research study of the craft sector in 2000. The result was a recommendation to set up an institute to develop Cape craft.

What does the CCDI do?

The CCDI supports craft producers and helps to network all players in the product-to-market chain. This includes craft producers and designer-makers, retailers, marketing agents, exporters and service providers such as designers, product developers, skills trainers, business development practitioners and mentors. Government and other funders form a vital part of this collaboration, to build relationships across sectors.

Product support provides an environment in which craft producers can further develop their existing products, and prototype new products.

Business support offers training and learnerships to develop craft producers' skills in creativity, business management, production and marketing. There is also mentoring assistance and a referral system for craft enterprises.

Market support helps craft producers to define their targeted niche markets and to reach them through channels such as local craft markets and consumer shows, retail outlets and trade shows.

The CCDI not only supports craft producers and craft businesses in Cape Town, where it has its headquarters, but throughout the Western Cape – the Karoo, Overberg, Winelands, West Coast and Eden District. Despite challenges such as the vastness of the rural areas and lack of training facilities, the CCDI has held numerous creativity, design and information workshops, and enabled craft producers to show and sell their products at local festivals and through major national lifestyle and trade shows.

From an early age Ryan would spend hours in his Dad’s garage making, breaking and inventing things, between climbing trees and collecting naturally beautiful things.
A four-year Diploma in Industrial Design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology as well as a year in Mechanical Drafting at the Academy of Drafting directed Ryan’s design journey. Today, after ten years in the industry, Ryan’s style philosophy remains childlike in its simplicity – making the world more naturally beautiful in a way that won’t damage it in the process.

His eye for detail, passion for form and obsession with function are the fundamentals behind his ambitions – to create articles of furniture that will be considered classics in time to come. The inspiration behind his work is, and always has been, the design union of straight, geometric lines found in modern day design with the curved, organic textures and shapes found in nature. The result? An inspiring blend of the new and eternal.

Meet Ryan Matchett Design House
Based in Cape Town South Africa, Ryan Matchett has been creating a wide variety of furnishings and décor accessories for lodges, hotels, restaurants and private homes both locally and internationally. Signature pieces have been exported to luxury resorts and designer spaces in the Seychelles, Paris, USA, Holland, Rwanda, Namibia and throughout Africa, as well as the Milan Furniture Fair. 

From N Designs, a range of driftwood inspired furniture and lighting, to Contemporary Furniture, each and every product is born out of a design philosophy that is committed to creating beautiful products that are sustainable and eco friendly.