Benjamin Hubert has been covered by 3rings before for his heavylights – a dome shaped light made of concrete that oddly takes a very dense building material and repurpose it for lighting. Released for 100% Design 2008, the heavy light turns out to be one of many in a study of lighting and materiality. At the 2009 100% Design event, Hubert presented the Float light, a similarly shaped light with a totally different material quality.

Recycled Cork Lamps. Designed by Benjamin Hubert.

Appropriately named Float, the light fixture is made from Portuguese agglomerated cork blocks. The blocks are made from recovered waste that is the result of wine cork manufacturer. For frequent readers, I am on a cork kick this week, with yesterday’s post about Recycled Wine Cork Tile. It is unavoidable, as cork is leaping into the forefront of sustainable interior design due to its versatility and inherent eco-friendliness. What I like about the Float light that differentiates it from the other cork products out there is the manufacturing process.

The agglomerated blocks are placed on lathes and turned with a traditional wood working technique. An enormous amount of waste is produced from this process, but instead of being left with unusable material, the cork chips are simply reprocessed into future blocks. The resulting lamps have a classical bell shape, with the smoothed texture and warmth of the cork.

Float is a collaboration between Hubert and Scandinavian lighting manufacturer Unique Copenhagen. Unique Copenhagen is located in Denmark where it produces a range of contemporary lighting products. Images of the light fixtures remind me of fishing bobbers or suspended planets which is provoked as much by the name “Float” as by the shape of the fixture. It is an interesting study to see the Heavylights and Float lights together, both similarly shaped but totally different in feel and context.

via dezeen