All posts by Geoff

Ponga lamp

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My latest lamp creation I call it the Ponga, is a #bootfair vase. Coupled with a nicely crafted piece of mahogany for the base. Wired with some gold braided flex and I’m liking the outcome.

 

Moa toes

been working on a few new lamps recently in between different projects. And I call this one Moa toes. The Moa was a native bird of New Zealand and became extinct around about the 15th century I believe. It was similar to an emu but much bigger and also flightless.  

 

Man of war lamp

When I first arrived in Hackney I moved into a basement flat that didn’t have doors, heating, plumbing or electrics, and in the middle of winter. Anyway, most of those got sorted in due time, but during the clear out, I discovered amoungst lots of junk the lovely glass shade featured in this piece.  

 

It’s absolutely stunning lit up and well worth the effort. 

Inspiration for the base came about from researching steampunk lamps and the different ideas people have made. It was a lot of fun and as always educational in terms of what I learnt and discovered regarding new metal working techniques and electrical methods. And I call it the ‘Man of War’ lamp after the Portuguese man of war jelly fish. 

 
I chose to make the switch as the only cable I had that worked with the shade and frame, was the spiralized one shown, which needed to be managed neatly. So I achieved this using this industrial looking besa box and a dimmer module from a wall light switch. 

Very pleased with the outcome and I have a few more in the pipeline and will post when finished

Plaster carving

last Friday saw us do an experiment with carving into the plastered and rendered walls and our current restaurant refit.  Here is the outcome. 

 

September designs

September has seen us finish a body of work comprising tables for barrio central, a London west end bar, part of the barrio bars crew, who have 3 barrio bars in London.

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Latest Lamp

So this weeks work incorporated this lamp. Bit of experimentation gone into this one in terms of refining my engineering techniques given my limited equipment, illustrated in some of the pix. Some steampunk ideas coming through with this project too. IMG_3697.JPG Pictured is a car disc rotor. I welded a bit of tubing on to the edge to assist with bending tubing for the lamp stem.

IMG_3695.JPG The bent tube stem welded to a hexagonal 2kg grocers weight. And a kettle I hacked to make the shade.

IMG_3701.JPG The union between the stem tube and the shade I created using 1mm gilding metal.

IMG_3712.JPGHere is the lamp wired for testing. I used spirit of salts to oxidise(rust) the steel and shade.

IMG_3717.JPGThe finished article. Found this little toggle switch in a junk shop in Bakers Arms London N17

Bar balustrade

This weeks work. A Victa Horta inspired bar barrier for @bonnevilleE5. Victa Horta created an amazing house which is now a meuseum and a beautiful example of art nouveau. An absolute joy making this and Really enjoying the light engineering work.

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Snakes n tables

Made 6 x cafe/bar style tables this week. All 60x60cm that, when pushed together, form my interpret ion of snake skin. 20140713-084205-31325088.jpg

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Meeting/Table tennis table

Early Last week we were contacted by Stuart Langley of the Disappearing dining club to do a table for a company called Broadwick Live. Stuart manages a company that runs pop up dinner and dance events and has been moonlighting as an interior designer. And he asked me to look at making a meeting table that is also a full size table tennis table out of very nice hardwoods. So here’s what got created….

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And the following is it’s brief history of the build process…..
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The top is made of these reclaimed Iroko school laboratory work surfaces from the guys at Reclaimed Uk. They say the tops came out of a school in Crosby in the Liverpool area built in the late 60s.
The frame is made from new Ash, supplied and machined by PJ Johnson Timber ltd.
The following pics are a few more stages of the process involved in the making of this piece.

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Copper lamps

Latest addition to my portfolio of hand crafted lamps. Made from large copper plumbing fittings, ip rated led spots and a flexible gooseneck that’d typically be used on a microphone stand.
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These will light up the sign we built for the bonneville bar, we also built in London E5.