Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui by Jiahua Zhang, Nitesh Reddy and Kejun Li

Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui by Jiahua Zhang, Nitesh Reddy and Kejun Li is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award Keleawe in Hoʻolālā Kukui a me Lako Kukui Competition Category.

KeleaweKukui· 2021

Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui

by Jiahua Zhang, Nitesh Reddy and Kejun Li

A' Design Award Keleawe Winner in Kukui Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui

Kikokikona Puke: ʻO Waterlight kahi kukui papaʻaina i hoʻoulu ʻia e ka puna wai. ʻO ka hoʻohuli ʻana i ke koʻokoʻo hoʻomalu i luna a i lalo e hoʻololi i ka mālamalama o ke kukui. ʻO ka hoʻohuli ʻana i ke koʻokoʻo hoʻomalu mai ka hema a i ka ʻākau e hoʻoponopono i ke kēkelē wela o ke kala. ʻElua mīkini uku uila (potentiometer) i loko o ka pōpō, hoʻokahi moe a hoʻokahi kū, e hoʻololi ana i ka uila komo e hana i kēia mau hopena. Hana ʻia ka mālamalama e nā pūnaewele LED ma luna o kahi kumu. Hana ʻia ke poʻo mai ke keleawe ʻalaʻala (bronze), ʻo ka pōhaku pōʻai luna mai ka pōhaku kinikini kūlohelohe, a ʻo ka pale waho mai ke aniani. Loko ʻo ka pōʻai lalo i kahi kaapuni no ka hoʻopiha uila hoʻokele ʻole (wireless), no laila hiki ke lawe ʻia ke kukui mai kēlā keʻena a i kēia keʻena.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Keleawe

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui i ka A' Design Award Keleawe, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kūʻokoʻa i ʻike ʻia ma o ka hana noʻeau, ka akamai a me ka makakoho. He mau hana mākaukau a hana noʻeau kupaianaha nā lanakila Keleawe e hōʻoia ana i ka ʻike nui, ka noʻonoʻo a me ka maʻalea o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui he mea i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia, he ʻoihana a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Keleawe e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana, a maikaʻi no kona nānā ʻana i nā kikoʻī. Hoʻokō maikaʻi ka hoʻolālā Waterlight Kuleana Nui: Kukui i nā pono, hoʻopā i ka makemake, hoʻohiwahiwa i nā manaʻo a huki i ka makemake e ʻike.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Waterlight generates a unique and amazing experience of light control. Turning the control bar up and down changes the intensity of brightness. Turning it from left to right adjusts the temperature of light.
Dimensions & Packaging: Dimensions: Width 80mm x Depth 80 mm x Height 300 mm.
Technical Properties: The potentiometer is the bridge between the action from the user and the effect of the lamp. It changes the brightness and temperature of the lamp by modifying the input voltage which is controlled by the user through the control bar.
Tags: Light, Aesthetic, Water, Faucet, Lamp, Desktop
Production Technology: The head is fixed with two potentiometers inside the sphere, one is horizontal and the other is vertical. Thus, when the user is turning the control bar up and down, the horizontal potentiometer changes the voltage of the electricity to adjust the brightness of the light; when the user is rolling the control bar left and right, the vertical potentiometer changes the voltage of the electricity to modify the temperature of the light.

The light is provided by the LED cells on a base.

For charging, the bottom lid is integrated with a circuit for wireless charging when it is put on the independent wireless charger that is connected to plugs with wire. The lamp can be taken away after charging (e.g. the lamp is charged in the living room when the user is reading there and taken to the bedroom when the user wants to go there).

The head is made of high-quality bronze, the top lid is made of natural marble. And the outer shell is made of glass.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge was to build the functional potentiometer and circuit to make this design into reality. In the beginning, it was really hard to link the control action and the change of the brightness and temperature of the light in a proper way. The change always went too much or too little. Finally, we found the balance and created a perfect control feeling.
Research: We would like to create an amazing new interaction between the user and the lamp. After a lot of sketches and brainstorming, we came up with this idea and found out that there was not anything like it in the market. So we did five versions of 1:1 scale prototypes to find the best proportion of the shape, enable the potentiometer working, and find the manufacturing process of the marble. It turned out that we need a horizontal and a vertical potentiometer to control the voltage and hence the brightness and temperature of the light. And we found out that the marble can be made by CNC.
Inspiration: Waterlight was inspired by the water faucet which adjusts the volume of water by being turned up and down, and controls the temperature of water by being turned left and right. It enables users to adjust light like using a water faucet, creating a similar feeling between light control and water control, and bringing about more insights into life.
Project Duration: This project started in October 2019 and finished in January 2020 in Milan.
Operation Flow: Turning the control bar up and down changes the intensity of brightness. Turning it from left to right adjusts the temperature of light.
Team Members: Nitesh Reddy N
Kejun Li