Kitchen worktops and bathroom vanities: the solid surfacing material Corian has been a go-to for homes and commercial venues alike. You’ve likely seen the material in this form, but you may not be aware of its potential beyond surfacing or of its ability to be something other than opaque. Renowned designer Tomek Rygalik’s newest project, a three-dimensional light installation made of DuPont Corian® Illumination Series (in its full range of colors) gives us exposure to both.

Genotype. Designed by Tomek Rygalik for Corian.

The Corian Illumination Series changes tone when backlit, depending on the type of light used. Light combines with its thermoformable properties to transform Mint Ice, Strawberry Ice, Lime Ice, Glacier Ice, and Blueberry Ice from their pastel shades, into deeper, bolder tones. Daylight, tungsten and warm white light all produce remarkably different results.  So given the material’s light-induced properties, its application to lighting design only seems fitting.

Genotype resembles an archetype of a lamp.  Through simplicity and economy of form the material takes center stage.   Rygalik’s lamps were featured, in a variety of scales and heights, during the London Design Festival in an exhibition curated by Miska Miller-Lovegrove. Young Creative Poland featured emerging designers in architecture, graphic design and street art.

For more examples of the potential of Corian, check out Cart Blanc, designed by West Chin and Roseann Repetti of FTF Design Studio and the collaboration between Dupont Corian and the students at the School of the Art Institute Chicago in an exhibition at #NeoCon09 that inspired interaction between user and object. Fragmented by Corinne Farmer used Corian as a material to diffuse light “disco dancefloor style” while Senses by Emily Lin created an inventive light box with a labyrinth inlay out of the material.