Cylindrical Desk Lamp

Cylindrical desk lamp in copper and flame maple designed by Pam Daniels and Brandon Williams for Inventables, Inc.

Chicago-based Inventables, Inc. invited a few designers to showcase what's possible with their new enclosed desktop milling machine called Carvey. It was a dream project where we'd get early access to the equipment, free materials to prototype with, and could make whatever we wanted to. I jumped into the challenge with my studiomate Brandon Williams, and together we designed this cylindrical desk lamp.

Carvey machine from Investable Inc, designed by MNML

Our guiding principle in this project was to let the materials and Carvey be the heroes.  We focused on what a mill can do that an average laser cutter can’t, including creating pockets and achieving different profiles with varied end mills, such as using a ball nose mill to create the channel for the cord.  We also wanted to feature how effective a mill is at cutting soft sheet metals, such as brass and copper.  

The cylindrical form shows how Carvey’s relatively small 8x12 inch bed size need not be a limitation. The waxed cotton stitching reflects my love of sewing and draws on Brandon's skill as a leather craftsman.

Cylindrical desk lamps fabricated two ways: copper with a flame maple base, and brushed brass with a walnut base.

We created two variations of the same form, one in flame maple and copper, and another in walnut with brushed brass.  Light is reflected by the metal and takes on the cast of the material chosen—a warm yellow glow with brass and a pinkish hue with the copper.  The colorful cloth cords extend through a channel showcasing the beauty of the wood.

The brass shade during fabrication — CNC milling in Carvey.

So satisfying! We used a ball nose end mill to create the channel for the cloth cord.

An early mockup was laser cut and stitched as a proof-of-concept.

Waxed cotton polycord saddle stitch on the brass cylinder

We love being involved in the maker movement which is growing by the day, and taking part in the launch of Carvey through the design of our cylindrical lamp. Step-by-step instructions for the project along with the files are available for anyone to use (subject to Creative Commons license) on the Inventables project page.

Happy making!