About Willowlamp
 
  TEAM2

The willowlamp™ is the brainchild of the design duo ‘Team2’, Adam Hoets and Sian Eliot.

Sian Eliot studied Industrial Design at the Cape Technikon and is also a jeweller. She has established herself as a distinctive voice in the field of jewellery design through her innovative meshing of traditional skills with technology. She has a natural instinct and understanding for the materials she works with.

Adam Hoets is a registered Architect who has specialised in Eco Architecture since graduating from the University of Cape Town in 2000.

His architectural projects have shown a flair for progressive and environmentally sensitive design – a focus that is continued in his collaborative work under the umbrella of Team2.

Adam has an obsessive awareness of the intricacies of the willowlamp’s construction. This manifests in a tightly conceptualised and resolved final product that couples aesthetics and sensitivity with technical design.
DESIGN ETHOS

Our design ethos fuses organic forms with high tech elements without compromising on a highly personalised level of craftsmanship. We industrially manufacture the elements but each lamp is painstakingly hand-assembled. Each of the hundreds of chain strands are cut and attached by hand. Both artistry and technical development are evident in the pieces.

The willowlamps are dynamic too – every movement of air can be seen on their surfaces, suggesting something quite ‘impressionable’ and delicate.
WILLOWLAMP STORY

The genesis of willowlamp was an organic process of collaboration between Adam and Sian. Adam was experimenting with ball chain to create woven spheres and chain curtains. However, issues with suspension forced him to find new alternatives to hanging the chains, namely, a way to attach many pieces of chain to a structure without the need of any fasteners. An elegant solution was in store. Sian, who was simultaneously using the process of laser cutting to create jewellery, saw the potential link between these two media and the Willowlamp notch was born. Team2 developed a tiny notch that when cut into sheet steel would create a permanent method of fixing the chains. The notch is now a registered patent of willowlamp™. The ingenuity of a fastener free system, facilitated by the notch and combined with the power of digital cutting allows for great versatility of design and scale.

In August 2005, following six months of research and development the first willowlamps were completed. The name and branding of ‘willowlamp’ was also created during the course of 2005 with the help of ‘Rex’ a Johannesburg based graphic design company.

We were creating prototypes in our spare time while continuing with our respective careers. Our first order came from Suburban Films, a production company owned by Linda Notelowitz – a keen supporter of South African artists. This gave us the boost and momentum to launch the product at the Design Indaba Expo February 2006. We were bowled over by the response from the general public – people from all spheres and cultures respond to this simple idea!
 
WILLOWLAMP SERVICES

We offer a wide selection of ready-designed lamps which are a part of our permanent collection. This collection of designs grows each year and because of the many translations they are never mass produced. All pieces are individually made to order to the clients’ specific requests. For this reason we move seamlessly into the ‘custom-made’ and offer a ‘tailoring’ service. Ours is a business offering a brilliant opportunity for creativity both for ourselves as artists, but also for our clients. We offer a professional and comprehensive service in design and product development, being the perfect link between the interior designer and the manufacturing industry.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY


We have a patent pending in South Africa and the US which is in its final national phase of registration and approval. We began this process in April 2005 when we registered the ‘notch’ idea for patenting at CIPRO in Pretoria. In March 2006 we registered the idea internationally with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in Geneva with the help of Bowman Gilfillan attorneys. That gave us 36 months to test the product’s viability, before we needed to register in individual countries.
PARTNERSHIPS AND GROWTH

At our first showing, we forged a link with the Amaridian gallery in Soho New York – who have become our stockist and representative in the US. They specialise in promoting contemporary South African art and design and are helping to break the stereotypical perception of ‘African’ design. Through their efforts willowlamps have appeared in the New York Times, New York Vogue Living, US Interior Design and other US design publications and magazines. They represented willowlamp at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York in May 2007. Through the gallery we have sent lamps to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Sydney Australia, New York and San Francisco.

We continued to show our work at the Design Indaba (DI) taking a stand again in February 2007 and will be showing our new collection in February 2008. The DI is a wonderful platform for emerging South African designers to position themselves. It is the strongest ‘design community’ we have in South Africa.

In 2006-7we won the Elle Décor lighting design of the year award for South Africa. (the EDIDA award)

We have gained a lot of experience in exporting by focussing on contract work through various international interior designers, galleries and procurement firms. We have sent fittings to the USA, the America’s, Europe, the Middle East, and Australasia. We are hoping to become visible in the Far East and India in 2008.