At Milan Design Week 2010, April 14-19 at Superstudio Piú, Swedish lighting company Wästberg will launch a lighting fixture made in DuraPulp and developed in close collaboration with Swedish forestry industry company Södra and Swedish architects and designers Claesson Koivisto Rune.
Last year Claesson Koivisto Rune and Södra developed the Parupu children's chair out of DuraPulp, thus proving it possible to make a real chair of paper. Now Claesson Koivisto Rune and Södra team up with Wästberg to challenge themselves even further: merging electricity, paper and light, using paper, not only as a component or for casing, but really fully integrated.
"Combining old wisdom with ground-breaking technology is elementary to Wästbergs philosophy" says Magnus Wästberg, founder and CEO of Wästberg. "Paper has been used throughout history for making lamp shades. Now we are using paper for the actual structure of the fixture adding advanced LED technology."
"One principal mission for Södra, together with innovative partners, is to develop and supply tomorrow's raw materials based on renewable forest resources", says Karin Emilsson, director of technology at Södra and head of Södra Innovation. "The DuraPulp lamp by Wästberg meets high customer standards of functionality and design although it's made out of a new totally renewable material."
Notes to editors:
DuraPulp
DuraPulp is made from selected pulp from Södra combined with PLA (Polylactic acid, a renewable biopolymer produced from starch). The two components in combination provide special properties that can be reinforced through hot pressing. DuraPulp is a material with high wet strength, high water resistance, high dimensional stability as well as high tensile strength and bending stiffness. DuraPulp is made from 100 per cent renewable fibres and is fully biodegradable.
Claesson Koivisto Rune w101
Material: DuraPulp, cast iron (base)
Light source: 5 W LED
Colour temperature: 3.000 K
CRI > 90
Wästberg
Launched in 2008, Wästberg lamps are now sold globally and have been honoured with more than 20 awards for design excellence, including 6 Good Design Awards, 4 red dot awards, Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany and an Elle Interior Design Prize. Wästberg is based in Helsingborg, Skåne, the southernmost part of Sweden.
Södra
Södra is a Swedish group with broad forestry operations and is a leading producer of pulp, wood products and bioenergy. The company, which is owned by 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden, has 4,000 employees and sales of SEK 17 billion.
Claesson Koivisto Rune
Internationally renowned architectural office founded in 1995 by Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune. The office has also established itself as a successful design studio. Today, they work with more than 50 companies worldwide.
For further information, please contact:
Lotta Wästberg, Wästberg, +46 72 232 4010
Thérèse Thelin, Södra, + 46 730 345 125