The Gold Prize-winning project is called Deithy Lamp and was developed by Liliana Soares and Ermanno Aparo, professors at the Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, and by alumni of the degree in Product Design and the master’s degree in Design Integrated, João Teixeira and Jorge Passos. Deithy Lamp was born from a partnership between IPVC and Furnor, a company based in Vila Nova de Famalicão, demonstrating, once again, the importance of articulation between the Academy and the business community.
It combines tradition with innovation and sustainability with functionality, valuing the “poetics of light” in its various modulations. This is the concept of Deithy Lamp, the project that was born from a partnership between the Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo and Furnor, a company from Vila Nova de Famalicão, which was developed within the scope of the IPVC/CIAUD Hub (Center for Research in Architecture , Urbanism and Design) and which recently won the Gold Prize of the MUSE Design Award 2023. The award was organized by the North American International Awards Associate (IAA) and this year had around 6,500 entries and a range of 60 jurors from 17 countries.
The project for this lighting concept was developed by Liliana Soares and Ermanno Aparo, professors at the Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, and by the alumni of the degree in Product Design and the master’s degree in Integrated Design, João Teixeira and Jorge Passos, in close coordination with Furnor, a company from Famalic with over 40 years of existence, dedicated to the manufacture and finishing of metal components and parts.
The sustainable identity of the project, which aimed to make the company’s production capabilities profitable and provide a new lighting concept, “is reflected in environmental care from the choice of raw materials, through production processes and continuing through consumption and the type of interaction necessary for the lamp to function”, describes Liliana Soares.
The ESTG-IPVC professor also adds that “the shape of the lamp refers to the sinuous position of ‘Tribhanga’, used by representations of Indian deities, creating a fluid and elegant connection between heaven and earth”. The lamp features a geometry that contrasts the solidity of the cork base and the lightness of the golden brass structure, in a “balance created between technology and poetics that manifests itself in the user’s gestures”.
Professor Liliana Soares adds that the project demonstrates the importance of creativity and collaboration between the Academy and the business community, a fundamental pillar for the Polytechnic of Viana do Castelo. In the area of Design, this symbiosis has made the Institution “a global reference” and has actively contributed to “implementing innovation” in national companies, helping them to become decisive in qualifying the national product as something of excellence in the global market.
