Tokyo-born Kazuhiro Yamanaka has established himself as a versatile and influential designer. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, Yamanaka’s work spans various domains, from furniture and lighting design to large-scale installations. His impressive client list includes renowned brands such as Pallucco, Boffi, Ingo Maurer, Saazs, and Alessi, whilehis innovative designs have earned him numerous accolades, including the prestigious Design Report Award in Milan. Lately, he has garnered attention with his innovative lighting fixtures, made with paper.
Lamp in the Pizza Box – packaged compactly inside a cardboard pizza box, taking into consideration environmental destruction caused by transportation.
Yamanaka’s first paper lamp design was made out of Japanese paper and recycled polyester, compresses to fit inside a pizza box. With a delicate and lightweight form, the lighting fixture is made out of paper and coated with polyester material, each crinkled to create a unique pattern and add strength. The lamp comes packaged in a cardboard pizza box, with when opened the lamp gently unfolds to stand freely without support and emit gentle LED light.
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Roll With Me – shaped with a single A3 sheet of paper and tied with a cord.
The designers second endevour into designing lighting fixtures utilizing paper, took a different approach. The minimal but playfully titled “Roll With Me” lamp uses just a single sheet of A3 paper with a single electric cable. The design is comprised of a singular piece of paper, loosely rolls it up into a tube, and fastened with a draping wire. A minuscule LED chip is fitted inside the wire loop, serving as the light source.
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Tsubomi – a vacuum-sealed flat pack that blooms into a self-supporting light as it opens.
Following his “Lamp in a Pizza Box” and “Roll With Me” lighting designs, Yamanaka introduces his latest creation: Tsubomi. The lamp, inspired by paper-folding techniques, arrives as a vacuum-packed flat rectangle. When air enters through holes at the base, the lamp unfolds and stands upright without any internal framework. Crafted from a unique plastic compound reminiscent of traditional Japanese Shoji screens, the material shows subtle wrinkles when folded, which become more pronounced when the lamp is illuminated.
Images © Kazuhiro Yamanaka