In the past year, 3rings has seen much made of the honeycomb, including this week's Honeycomb Vase and Molo Softwall (Molo also makes a lovely Honeycomb Lamp called Urchin), as well as the Honeycomb Folding Chair and Beehouse Lamp. Perhaps all this emphasis on the honeycomb is a result of the Beijing Aquatics Center, which was made possible after a study of the geometric patterns of bubbles (hexagonal, as with the honeycomb, if you haven't already deduced it).

Honeycomb Lamp. Designed by Kyouei.

Bees have also been in the news due to their mysterious disappearance in record numbers, but I won't go into that here. Suffice it to say that honeycombs are everywhere. Japanese design firm Kyouei is also showcasing the lovely geometry made possible by honey bees, this time in paper. Their Honeycomb Lamp uses denguri paper (a product of the Shikoku Region of Japan) to create a lamp shade that is actually the lamp itself. Sound confusing? It's simple, really. The honeycomb structure of the denguri paper allows it to be shaped from a flat lamp-shaped piece to a three-dimensional lamp that surrounds a bulb. When closed (or packed), Honeycomb Lamp is only 2cm thick. Once opened and secured by pins, Kyouei's creation measures a respectable 300mm W x 300 mm D x 450 mm H. This table lamp can then illuminate your night stands in a romantic glow, as the paper warms the light emanating from the bulb. Even more daring is the Honeycomb Lamp in red, which naturally makes the lighting much more dramatic.

But why stop there? Kyouei showed just how versatile their lamp can be in a spectacular installation wherein they hung a large group of the Honeycomb Lamps upside down from the ceiling. By turning the lamp on its head, Kyouei showed that the lamp as a concept can be inverted, making viewers aware of the object as an object-specifically its iconic shape. The essential pattern of the paper, the honeycomb, enables the lamp to be lightweight enough to hang upside down, reminding us yet again that the honeycomb makes everything possible–from simple paper lamps to complex aquatic centers.