Bent or curved wood seems to be inherently seductive. Mold it into a seamless and smooth form, design joints that are seemingly invisible and suspend it from the ceiling via steel cables; the result is “Suomi,” a suspended lamp designed by Luz Difusion, a Barcelona-based lighting company. “Suomi” is a Finnish word that translates to “Finland.”

Suomi. Manufactured by Luz Difusion.

Hence, the name for this lamp is a reference to the renowned Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, who in 1932 developed a revolutionary type of furniture made of laminated bent plywood. His experiments led to the design of the Model No.41 Paimio Scroll Chair and soon after a cantilevered version, fulfilling his goal of “making a wooden chair ‘soft.””The Suomi lamp is made of 4 blocks of oak sheets, 2 cm thick, that are given a concave shape through the use of a mold. Each block is then laser cut to narrow it gradually from top to bottom.

Finally the four blocks are glued together using a super resistant adhesive paste.” The wood is finished with a fire retardant varnish. Four steel cables pass through the interior in a square grid pattern to avoid visible screws on the exterior. The steel cables provide a welcome variation from the traditional chain, providing a clean and modern finish to the piece. The company’s production process is patterned after that of Alvar Aalto, who in Scandinavian countries is often referred to as the “Father of Modernism.”

3Ringers should be familiar with bent-wood design: Jeremy Kaplan’s felt chaise lounge, the infamous Eames Lounger, and Magic designed by Dripta Roy of Puur Design Studio, to name a few.  Each of these pieces is a chair of some form or another.  Introducing bent-wood to the field of lighting design is something new, and here it is done quite well.  The lamp is designed to be seamless and hide all joinery. The result is clean, modern and polished… and also sizable (25.6″ wide and 30.7″ high).