Cobra Kukui Kau by Catarina Santos is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award Hao in Hoʻolālā Kukui a me Lako Kukui Competition Category.

HaoKukui· 2021

Cobra Kukui Kau

by Catarina Santos

Client: Tromilux - Iluminação Técnica Lda.

A' Design Award Hao Winner in Kukui Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Cobra Kukui Kau

ʻO Cobra kahi kukui kau i hoʻolālāʻia no ka wahi waena o kahi hale ʻoihana. Hahai ke ʻano i ke kalaka wai o ke naheka e neʻe ana, a kūkulu ʻia mai nā ʻāpana o nā hapahā pōʻai, nā hapawalu pōʻai, a me kahi ʻāpana pololei i ke alumini pelu. Hoʻokuʻu ʻia ke kukui i lalo ma ka lōʻihi holoʻokoʻa a hoʻāla ʻia e kahi mea ʻike neʻe i kau ʻia ma kekahi wēlau. Hoʻopaʻa ʻia ka mea hoʻopuehu polycarbonate piko me kahi ʻōnaehana ʻumiʻumi, a uhi paʻa ʻia nā ʻāpana alumini a pau me ka pauka. I hoʻokū pū ʻia me kahi māla i loko o ka hale, hoʻopili ʻo Cobra i ke kukui hana kanaka a me ke kūlohelohe.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Hao

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Cobra Kukui Kau i ka A' Design Award Hao, he ʻike hoʻohanohano i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā maikaʻi e hoʻokō ana i nā koi ʻoihana a ʻoihana hana i manaʻo ʻia mai nā mea hoʻokumu i hana maikaʻi ʻia. Hōʻike nā lanakila Hao i ka mākau nui, ka loea kiʻekiʻe, ka ʻike akamai a me ka hiki hana noʻeau o ka poʻe i hana iā lākou. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Cobra Kukui Kau he mea hoʻokumu i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia e pono a hou. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Hao e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka ʻoihana a loaʻa nā ʻano ʻenehana mākaukau i hui pū ʻia me ka ʻike hana a me ka makakoho. Mahalo ʻia ka hoʻolālā Cobra Kukui Kau no kona nānā pono a ua hoʻolālā ʻia e hāʻawi i nā hoʻomaikaʻi ola e kōkua ai i ka hana ʻana i ka honua i wahi maikaʻi aku.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: This product aims to create a relationship with the unconscious, adding to the primary function of the product questions about human nature, the spiritual and ecological domains, and ideas of responsible consumption. Designed to be installed with an indoor garden so as to create a specific language and convey a message, the design went from a simple lighting product to an art installation, where the form itself becomes self-reflecting. In this dialogue between nature and the animal that frightens but that, at the same time, illuminates, here is a space that invites individualised thinking that can be different from the collective.
Dimensions & Packaging: Length: 9000mm Curve Radius: 1245mm (the luminare is composed by quarters and eighths of the circles) and a straight linear part with 850mm. The original diameter is 1200mm, the height is 170mm,with 30kgs in total weight. Electrical specifications: 249W, 45.650lm, 3000K, RAL7016 (textured matte).
Tags: light, pendant, minimal, nature, wild, lamp, modern, cobra, snake, garden
Production Technology: This product is shaped using aluminum sheet bending technology. Other components of construction are mainly made from turned and milled aluminum. The luminaire is equiped with HV5 LED Fortimo by Philips’ (their latest generation LED), as well as Xitanium drivers, also from Phillips. The curved polycarbonate diffuser is made with a clip attachment system. There is also the possibility of installing a Tunable white Casambi control system. All the aluminum parts are powder coated.
Design Challenge: The initial creative challenge was to start with a standard product already in the brand's range and give it a new life and purpose. The test was to take a product that is not often associated with creativity, given its ubiquity in everyday life, and to give it a value that goes beyond mere necessity, opening space for questions about its causes and the consequences it presents.
Research: The pursuit of perfection in artificial lighting involves getting as close to natural light as possible. Scientific research raises questions about the consequences that excessive and inappropriate use of light can cause on human, animal and plant health. There are several examples of lighting products inspired by nature, in terms of form, materials, and interaction, and we wanted to bring all these together, given that light and nature have never existed separately.
Inspiration: There is a profound relationship between light and vision, as there is between human beings and nature. Without light there is no vision, no form, no shadow. Without the Sun there is no life. The Serpent design was inspired by this relationship, which is not evident on the surface. To illuminate is to interfere, to alter, to evolve. The Cobra design intends to develop this relationship between artificial lighting and nature, between that which is animal, wild, and innocuous and human action.
Project Duration: This project was conceived and developed to be installed in the central area of an office building of a Portuguese company that produces technical lighting, Tromilux.
Through a specific combination of products, the intention was to convey a thought. Assuming a distinct sensitivity to issues such as responsible manufacturing and consumption, this design takes the idea of a showroom further and convey some of the thoughts that echo in the minds of designers.
This project was developed between September and December 2020 and installed in January 2021, it will be on display indefinitely.
Operation Flow: The product is made of modules of quarter circles, octaves of circle and a straight line in aluminum, creating the asymmetrical and fluid shape of a snake in motion. It has a downward light projection along its entire length that is activated by a motion sensor located at one end.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Tromilux
Team Members: Catarina Montenegro
Francisco Silva
Paulo Grilo
Cláudia Santos
Liliana Viana
Carla Estrada
Pedro Maia
Joaquim Fontes
João Oliveira
Aleksandra Wawrzyniak
Manuel Granja
José Lopes
Paula Barros
Skimia
Raul Pinho
Image Credits: Image #1: Designer Liliana Viana, Cobra Up, 2021.
Image #2: Designer Liliana Viana, Cobra Down, 2021.
Image #3: Photographer Mariana Santos, Cobra Light, 2021.
Image #4: Photographer Mariana Santos, Cobra Garden, 2021.
Image #5: Photographer Mariana Santos, Cobra Reflection, 2021.