Concrete Hanging Lamps by Renate Vos

In architecture studio, I once had an assignment that required us to cast concrete blocks of one cubic-meter each. My most prominent remembrance of the experience is stored in muscle memory: the formidable weight of the concrete. I am happy to see that Dutch designer Renate Vos has taken the material on a more elegant journey with her concrete hanging lamps. The lamps, CONCRETE Conic and CONCRETE Big, are two variations on thin-shell concrete construction that she has fused with silicone rubber through an experimental process. The shade of each lamp is primarily the cold gray of concrete, but is skirted with a translucent ribbon of the rubber, which glows with warmth when the light is on. Each lamp is complete with an industrial chain for suspension, though the piece itself is relatively lightweight, topping out at only a few kilograms.