Together with the Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone, the Salone Satellite is one of the many components that makes up Milan Design Week, one of the most important design events of the year. The Salone Satellite gives emerging designers a chance to exhibit their innovative ideas and get an opportunity to interact with more established brands. This year, one of the most interesting studios was Xuberance, the Chinese company founded by Steven Ma together with partners Bin Lu and Leirah Wang. Xuberance took home the First Prize Award at Salone Satellite for its line of 3D printed lamps.
Xuberance was founded in Vienna and moved to Shanghai in 2014 to become China’s first professional 3D printing Design Company. The studio seeks to “generate innovative spatial forms that actively engage, enhance and influence the body, constantly challenging its relationship to the environment akin to the complexity of contemporary life.” 3DPI’s Andrew Wheeler recently covered their work on a completely 3D printed wedding, which included an incredible 3D printed wedding dress. The line of lamps is no less impressive.
“We produce innovative products and projects that are both exclusive and accessible, forward looking and subtle, distinctly contemporary in their formal and material aesthetics and unapologetically timeless in their functional and spatial performance,” the Studio’s founder, Steven Ma, explained at MWC 2015, where he presented some of their recent work, and the Milan Award. “Our creative process involves an analytical approach to the specifics of each project, client and context, an imaginative philosophy and unique artistic sensibility to product design and a sophisticated technological solution to its fabrication and material tectonics.”
Manufactured by laser sintering, with the help of Materialise, these incredible lamps are based on highly complex designs resembling natural shapes, such as flowers or clouds. The winning design was the Cloud Lamp, available as a four-piece series for $1.200. Similar designs are also available as as a two-piece Sculpture Series for $400, or for $8.000 as a set of 16 pieces in the Matrix Series, each one different from the other (there is also a four-piece Black Series).
The studio’s online shop already offers a wide range of products, with prices ranging form a few hundred to several thousand dollars, which clearly demonstrates some of what can be achieved with additive manufacturing in terms of complexity and uniqueness.
While 3D printing still represents only a minimal part of the projects and works on display at the Salone del Mobile, its influence on design is growing rapidly and the success of Xuberance is a clear indication. “We received many compliments for our work during the exhibit,” Leirah Wang told me when I met her at MWC 2015. “Our stand was always crowded. We are extremely happy with our participation at the show and we intend to return next year with new projects.” At the rate the studio’s designs are evolving, it will certainly be something to behold.
