Le Labo 1.0, a project by Paris design studio Baguette Studio, rethinks the consumption of goods by making industrial processes transparent, local and adaptable. At its centre is a lighting system made of 100% natural wax, which can be melted down and remoulded.
Baguette Studio was founded by Philippe Gaud and Emma Lohner. The studio works with craftsmanship and matter, and sets out to question social and industrial systems in order to arrive at viable, responsible and accessible solutions.
Material
The project starts from a question posed in the studio’s press kit: what if we owned raw materials instead of objects? Baguette Studio developed its own blend of plant-based waxes and beeswax. It resists deformation up to 80°C and melts at 100°C. It needs no surface finish, and its high melting point means it is not greasy to the touch and does not attract dust.
Rotational moulding
Production borrows rotational moulding from the plastics industry. The studio built its own machine for nomadic and event use, quick to assemble and take apart, which saves time and energy compared with the machines used for plastics. The wax sets by air cooling in about 15 minutes, and each lamp is made on site in under 45 minutes, in front of the customer.
The process runs from choosing a shape and melting the material to pouring it into the mould, rotating it, opening the mould after cooling and cutting out the base and attachment points. A lamp that breaks, or whose owner wants a different shape, can be brought back to Le Labo.
The collection
The collection consists of four lighting objects: two table lamps, a wall light and a pendant lamp. Each lamp is made from a specific weight of wax so that it can be remelted without waste. The material follows its owner and can become a new object, with a new shape or function, as their needs change.
All the lamps share the same stainless steel base, developed with OpenStructures. Threaded holes in its four corners take rubber feet for the table lamp, screws to fix the wall light or hooks for the hanging lamp. After dismantling, the base can be reused in other objects.
Beyond the lamp
The press kit extends the system to a modular suspension and a modular chandelier, as well as glasses for events, wax dishes and wax bricks. For events, 800 grams of wax makes ten glasses. Once the drink is finished, guests break the glass instead of throwing it away, and the shards are washed, melted again and turned into a table lamp.
Le Labo 1.0 explores an ecosystem of objects in which every stage of the material’s life cycle is designed to eliminate waste, while imagining what a transparent, local production space could be.
Designer: Baguette Studio / @baguettestudio_
Photography: Garaj, Guillaume Peretti Gaud, Nam Seun Grok, Samuel van Heijningen, Anne Emmanuelle Thion, Baguette Studio
