Dome Lamp 
Tom Sachs / ISETAN

Like most projects of this nature it begins with seeing others making a thing and then thinking, “That’s cool but I’d change blah blah and blah blah...”. At first the contemplation is a matter of modifying what already exists and at some point a flip occurs - this would all be much easier if I just started from scratch.

Around the tail end of 2020 we spied restaurants migrating their seating to outdoors (post pandemic lock downs). Set atop their spotless linens were battery operated lamps. What a perfect use for a Makita power source...

Early iterations were minimal in their approach but prone to tipping over which happened often. Resulting in many a broken part and the eventual shelving of the idea. Fortunately for me I was allowed to keep the prototypes but unfortunately for the public that meant no tangible product for their consumption.

Flash forward to a recent sidebar conversation Tom and I were having about products being offered at his upcoming Isetan show. He wanted something new that he hadn’t sold before. I put two and two together: now would be an ideal time to revive that cursed lamp project. 

This newer design has several improvements. We enlarged the base to make it less prone to tipping over. A tougher material was used for the printed components to ward off clumsy hands. Studio code conEdRails were added to the sides for better handling. Best of all, it’s SMUT* tray compatible!

*SMUT = Sachs Modularized Utility Tray (Smutshow Zine 2017)

What I love most about this lamp is that it wasn’t enough that it merely existed as a satisfying object. It had to establish its place in a broader ecosystem of ‘things’ in the Tom Sachs universe. Is it sculpture? Is it furniture? Is it disposable? Depending on where it resides on the spectrum there are numerous implications and many hours of healthy debate.

To me it sits somewhere in the middle. While it uses some new fangled rapid prototyping processes it’s consciously married to studio materials. Each lamp was laboriously assembled by hand in the sacred space known for birthing Sach’s acclaimed sculptures with strict adherance to the hallowed studio code.

A limited batch will be offered at Tom’s upcoming show at Isetan this September 2023.

PLA+ Filament
Battery Protection Board
Pololu Step Down 5v/600ma Reg
Apollo Era Switch Protector
Con-ed wooden rails
3/4” Plywood
Makita Battery

Edition of 20

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