French design studio Grasping Hand have introduced Normal Flora, a pendant lamp that projects growing human bacteria on to a screen.

Normal Flora turns unsightly bacteria into a unique pendant lamp design that changes its appearance over time.

The project’s unusual title, Normal Flora, is the name given name to the bacteria commonly found in the human body. A sample of this bacteria is collected in a petri dish with a little gel and then left to grow in darkness for a few days. The dish is then hung carefully below the lamp and then projected onto a 65 diameter screen. The result is a circular lamp that resembles a planet from outer space whose surface will change its appearance over time as the bacteria grows.

The device is composed of a circular screen, a petri dish filled with nutriments and gel placed above, a LED light emitter fixed to the ceiling, and a thin bent steel structure that holds the parts in place. The growing process will eventually stabilize but can be repeated any number of times after cleaning the dish with chlorine.

For more information contact graspinghandatgmail.com or visit www.graspinghand.com

About the designers: French studio Grasping Hand was founded in 2011 by Alexandre Xanthakis and Bud Aniontinder. Their projects question matters about generation, forces and physical events.