Sway by Nick Rennie | Made By Pen
Sway by Nick Rennie and Made by Pen is a totally new concept in floor lamp design. The playful light is not tethered to any power cable or outlet. It is completely free to move about and for the user to interact with it anywhere, indoor or outdoor.
Design Challenge
Design a lamp suitable to be placed anywhere, in any room, inside or out. Be inventive in thinking. Be innovative and unexpected. Be playful and interactive. Be bound by Pen’s design ethos to deliver something timeless, of quality and that is relevant to customer’s needs. And, do all this with accessibility in mind, the end-game to provide a value proposition for the buyer.
Design Solution
The initial intention was to design a lamp that was incredibly simple in its appearance. Something that would have a presence if purely used as a static image, however Pen knew collaborating with Nick would deliver more. The initial sketch looked similar to how a six-year-old might draw a dumbbell and it was playfully discussed how this might ‘topple over’. This was the birth of Sway. The result has been an innovative home appliance that brings fluid motion, unique user interaction, ease of use and integration into modern living to what is normally an unremarkable appliance.
Design Impact
Sway is a product which integrates naturally into the space for which its designed. As it is cordless and re-chargeable, it can be used in outdoor as well as interior settings, making it versatile as well as decorative. The lamp is turned on or off by a soft-touch simple tap, and offers five colour variations of white light making it applicable to any space. This mobility and share-ability, a deliberate Made by Pen design strategy to add value and flexibility to products, increases Sway’s appeal and utility for modern homeowners and interior decorators.
Mood Lighting
Provision of five light settings from warm low to natural bright, with the tap of the hand you can adjust the light-setting to complement your mood. With its smart technology, Sway will automatically return to your last setting when you next ‘tap’ it on.
Worldwide Standards
The Pen team worked with designers, manufacturers, engineers, and testers to achieve an award-winning design that meets all relevant Australian and EU regulations for lamp design, both inside and out. Proudly Australian engineered, Sway has multi-country adapters to make it easier to use the innovative Sway regardless of where in the world you happen to live.
International Recognition
Sway has also been awarded as a finalist in the NYCx design awards 2018 and category winner in IDA*ADCA Design Excellence Awards 2018 for the floor lamp category.
Form
Graceful simplicity, Sway has presence whether it is still or when swaying on its globular base. The positive child-like reaction generated as the lamp playfully teeters when knocked or moved adds a dimensional charm. The movement reimagines how users traditionally interact with these lighting devices. This understanding of the intangible reasons why customers like what they do, scrutinising the ‘think, feel and do’; what will elicit emotion and engage, and having leaned into this with the design is the reason the Sway lamp will remain relevant.
Function
The graceful yet functional design combined with the lamps indoor and outdoor mobility over-delivers on most users’ expectations on how a floor lamp should perform. In addition, the specific design features add more depth and functional desire; driven by easy to use soft touch tap technology the lamp offers customers five lighting options and the battery life lasts 6-10+ hours depending on the selected setting (warm low (lowest setting) 10 hours+ and natural bright (highest setting) 6-8 hours. Recharging is as simple as charging your phone.
Safety
The Sway lamp has undergone comprehensive compliance testing to achieve Australian standards, and EU certification, and to qualify for an IP rating of IP54. The studio will continue to seek relevant compliance or standards testing for any other required markets. The removal of a cord while the lamp is being used provides the additional benefit of eliminating the trip hazard created by traditional lamps in flexible spaces.
Sustainability
Made by Pen produces pieces which we consider ‘good design’. They believe a good design imbues quality, is impactful, and importantly is relevant. By producing pieces with this benchmark, we encourage longevity in the purchase decision, our customers ‘buy once and buy well’. Specifically, LED lighting that has been selected for Sway is used for its energy efficiency, as well as expected long life. To reduce packaging waste, Pen reuses original manufacturing packaging in customer product packaging, and the Sway box is made from an uncoated stock enabling it to be fully recycled.
Quality
Sway boasts an Australian design and engineering team with world class credentials and manufacturing partners that were rigorously selected by Made by Pen to ensure a quality product was produced. Direct consumer feedback was also consistently undertaken throughout the design journey and fed back into the design process e.g. pre-release feedback saw requests for an extended battery life, provision of more lighting options, and outdoor accessibility. The studio delivered on these, Sway now provides five lighting options, battery life up to 10 hours, certification for AU and EU standards and IP official ratings.
Commerciality
The product is value for money for customers, the versatility in light-options (five settings), and flexibility of movement, not needing to be tethered to a power-outlet means Sway can more greatly cater for a variety of customers current, and changing needs. The return of value for Pen will be in both brand value as the studio becomes known for its design thinking and innovation, as well its collaboration with prominent Australian designers, and through the application of the Sway lamp technology to other products
…..stay tuned….
Innovation
Sway disrupts the tradition of floor lamp design, shifting the basic design elements which have largely remained unchanged: static pedestal, counterbalanced base, tethered to a power socket. Sway’s ability to move, both anywhere in the intended space, and playfully on its globular base, demonstrates a new approach. Fundamentally though, the design innovation ensures the lamp is highly functional, its new versatility increasing its appeal and utility for customers and decorators.