TetraBox Spherical Lamp by architect and designer Edward Chew is constructed from approximately 450 empty, discarded packet drink boxes. The process involves cutting the boxes into strips, folding them into triangular pieces, and forming hexagons or pentagons. Those shapes become the building blocks in an origami structure based on geodesic dome construction. The TetraBox Spherical Lamp does not use any glue; instead, the design relies on precision folds.

TetraBox Spherical Lamp. Designed by Edward Chew.

Lamps Repurpose Malaysian Drink Boxes

Chew’s pendant lamp measures 260 mm in diameter (about 10 inches), though the idea behind the design is limitless. Besides the TetraBox Spherical Lamp, Chew can use the hexagon modules to create floor lamps and pendant lamps in other sizes and styles. Furthermore, the designer welcomes people to participate in building something much larger: “Imagine if each of us were to turn the empty boxes after each quench into a hexagon, and collectively knot them together, what possibly could we achieve?” If you agree that it’s “an idea worth pursuing,” then you can contact Chew through his website’s contact form.

This design is both green and practical. By using discarded drink boxes that are popular with Malaysians, Edward Chew tackled a local problem, something that he saw evidence of every day—“landfills across our country are bursting at the seams,” he explains. Repurposing these ubiquitous containers proved to be clever. Ideally, Chew’s idea might set an example for other communities to reuse their most popular throwaway consumer goods. If you admire the concept or construction, then vote for TetraBox Spherical Lamp, one of forty finalists in the Bright Ideas Competition.

Via Inhabitat.

About the Designer: Edward Chew is an architect with a desire to change the world one “little green step” at a time. His lamp designs repurpose Tetra Brik packet drinks, “one of the most favored soft drinks among Malaysians.” Chew is looking for a “paradigm shift,” so that Malaysians and others stop filling landfills with discarded boxes. By explaining the folding and construction process on his website, Chew hopes to encourage others to reuse drink boxes in order to create a “spherical pavilion as big as a house or a moon!” As an architect, Chew is also concerned with collaboration. He believes in creating a “balance between the client’s needs and the architect’s vision.”