Crafting a Bamboo Lamp

The idea first came to create a small lamp that can be placed in different locations in the house as ambient lighting to create intimacy and comfort at night. This lamp was inspired by my late caretaker. The night light is designed to spin on a central axis to showcase a silhouette of different figures in motion.

The bamboo lamp's light structure was crafted using Dendrocalamus asper, locally called Petung, whereas I crafted the light cover using banana paper, due to its translucent nature. Banana paper lets light through and therefore illuminates the light from the inside.

For the main inner structure of the lamp, I selected the upper part of Dendrocalamus asper, and cut it into a 25 cm long cylinder. As for its foundation, it was made by filling up the inside with the largest diameter of Phyllostachys aurea known as bambu Pancing, followed by smaller sizes. To ensure a smooth and attractive appearance, the gaps between were filled with a mixture of bamboo powder and wood glue.

The inner part of the lamp was made using a laminated bamboo plank, bamboo powder, and wood glue to create a smooth appearance. As for the cylinder, it has a pin that can be rotated and was placed under a round-shaped open bamboo plank I placed the laser-cutter figures that represent my childhood memories with my caretaker, surrounding it.

The light top cover is made of woven bamboo formed in a circle. The woven bamboo allows for air circulation so that the light remains lit (if we use candle), or if using electronic LED lighting, the reflected light creates a beautiful feature from the top. The lamp's finishing process involves using wood glue mixed with bamboo powder to cover the gaps in the open planks, drying them outside, and smoothing the surface with a smoothing machine to make it easy to coat with wood gloss liquid.