Zephyr

Zephyr is a luminaire conceived around the co-evolution of sustainable materials and digital fabrication. It employs a seaweed-based biopolymer / PETG composite, reducing environmental burden while maintaining structural integrity and optical translucency.

Its form is driven by manufacturing logic: the morphology is reconstructed from the principles of robotic additive manufacturing and toolpath planning, making “how it is made” an explicit component of the design language. Zephyr innovatively applies non-planar printing to generate continuous, curved stratification. The surface texture is inspired by the flowing cadence of wind-lifted hair in Botticelli’s paintings. This “wind-shaped” trajectory is translated into a continuous non-planar deposition pattern—like the traces left on a surface as the west wind (Zephyr) passes across it.

The overall silhouette fuses the classical connotation of a flared, horn-like profile with the future-oriented order of a rectilinear geometry; through a restrained volumetric convergence and clearly articulated interfaces, it articulates a disciplined yet tensile visual language. As light passes through the layered texture, refraction and diffuse scattering produce a soft, halo-like glow with nuanced gradients. The rear surface incorporates an approximately 30° inclined, cantilevered print, achieving a delicate balance between process controllability and the material’s self-consistent gravitational settling. This yields a surface with a near hand-crafted warmth and “breath,” while the semi-translucent sustainable material subtly modulates in appearance with changing ambient illumination.