De-Light

The brief was to design a lighting associated product that has an awareness of economic, social and ethical issues. 

Chittagong, the port city of Bangladesh holds the largest ship breaking yard in the world taking 18km of coastal space. These city sized ships are all scrapped by hand. Thousands of workers cut and hack away (mostly in poor working conditions) at these behemoths to reuse; much of the interior fittings such as shower units are reconditioned and sold at road side markets near the ship breaking yard, creating a local economy.

As Bangladesh has increasing requirements for energy, the government is failing to keep up with the demands, resulting in city wide black-outs. The (lamp/portable torch) duality of the product can comfortably provide a warm diffused light lighting at home, but can be detached from its docking station to be used around the house or even outside. Twisting the top section of the light operates the modes: Switched off, diffused light (for the lamp) or direct light (for the torch). 

Initially the raw materials would be sold off to steel manufacturing nations such China, however Bangladesh has recently seen rapid increase for domestic steel demands through the expansion of shipbuilding and construction industries. And even substantially contributes to the African steel market through export. To continue on this, the proposal is to manufacture the lights with the recycled materials from the ship breaking yards, and export half of the units to the global market at premium at price, to subsidise the other half for the local market. The unique story behind the light aims to raise awareness for the poor working condition to an international audience, while the profits help support the workers’ rights.

Sakib Hasan / Kirk Slankard

In collaboration with Kirk Slankard - Check out his blog at https://arciphilia.wordpress.com/