If his earlier Shio Table Lamp is any indication, Arturo Álvarez has certainly made good on at least one of his many ambitious declarations—“to reinterpret the customary use of common everyday materials, removing them from their usual context in order to seek a new purpose.” With regard to Shio, a new purpose was born, indeed, of the simple flat slats of laminated wood; and as concerns his latest, the Nevo Table Lamp, we see a slightly different brand of derring-do: this intriguing blossom of light is constructed of silicone and mesh.

Nevo. Designed by Arturo Álvarez.

Getting Savvy with Silicone

Álvarez also says that “his inspiration comes from the simplicity of life and people nearby, nature, and reflections of his inner world… all are therefore palpable in his designs.” The intriguing Nevo thus represents a departure of sorts, since the substance hardly figures large in the day-to-day business of your average José (or Joe). In fact, my most memorable contact with silicone is as a waterproof caulk—a pragmatic and much needed application to be sure, but it’s nice to see it exploited for its functional and aesthetic potential. Álvarez creates Nevo by infusing the substance with color (white, black, orange, or blue), then grafting the tinted silicone upon a stainless steel mesh. The resultant product is durable, malleable, flexible, washable and translucent—letting through just the right amount of light to enliven the many dips and folds within Nevo’s serpentine contours.

At first glance, Nevo is a dead ringer for a rose, but closer inspection finds a more intricate—rather, more textural—aspect. Just as magnified cells show a vigorous display of undifferentiated life, a focused look at Nevo shows its multiple perforations, the meshwork habit that gives it a distinct personality and enables it to function so well as a light. And though Nevo is also available as a suspension lamp and a floor lamp, one gets the sense that Álvarez has just begun to scratch the surface of this innovative application, of silicone’s “multiple possibilities and endless volumes, shapes and possible textures.”

Via PicoCool.