DMTV Milkshake: Ian Yang on Making Gorgeous Lighting at a Reasonable Price

By: Design Milk Staff

A truly beautiful piece of lighting can transform a room – and often costs more than we might think at first (well-lit) glance. Ian Yang, CEO and founder of Gantri, understands that push (toward great lighting) and pull (away from $1800 lamps). But Yang has long investigated the space between impulses: His education took him to the London School of Economics, but also revered art school Central Saint Martins. As a kid in China, he toured factories with his parents, who has a global logistics firm – and when he moved to San Francisco, he joined TechShop, a maker space fueled by a community fluent in the next-wave manufacturing processes like 3D printing. The result of all those influences is Gantri: “At Gantri, we’re rethinking how lighting is designed, made, and sold using 3D printing,” he says, in this week’s Milkshake. “We’re supporting independent designers and studios – and making great lighting designs more accessible and more sustainable.”

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Gantri partners with designers around the world – like Oakland’s Prowl Studio, Felix Pöttinger in Munich, Heitor Lobo Campos in Brasilia, and former Milkshake star Bradley L. Bowers in New Orleans – to create their work at a reasonable cost. Here, Ian shows off the Kobble task light by none other than Karim Rashid: “It’s typical Karim – really blobby, really beautiful – and the entire product is actually made from two different types of plant-based materials that we call Gantri, plant polymers,” Ian says. “They’re both derived from sugarcane, which is a really amazing material.” Each part is 3D printed, then QC’d multiple times before it’s hand assembled. (We loved this collection – which includes task lights, wall lights, and floor lights – so much that we covered it when it debuted last year, saying that “while each piece of the lighting series can easily work alone, the group together has the ability to make a space feel extra balanced.”)

Also in this Milkshake: Ian shares how digital-centric manufacturing processes alter a product’s look and feel – including layer lines and subtle textures – and tees up the brand’s latest Independent Creative Release, which included the Hula Collection by Pöttinger, the Gallery Collection by Andrew Ferrier, the Noah Collection by Filippo Mambretti, and more. “It’s a way for us to really support independent desires and studios who wouldn’t otherwise be able to launch products to market with a lot of visibility,” Ian says. “So we thought by creating this platform – where we launch a bunch of designs from a whole collection of designers – we can really maximize their voice and amplify the effect of the product launch. Last year, we launched more than 20 designs as part of this initiative, and this year we’ll continue to do that with even more designers.” To see more of what Gantri has in store, tune in!

Diana Ostrom, who has written for Wallpaper, Interior Design, ID, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets, is also the author of Faraway Places, a newsletter about travel.

Milkshake, DMTV (Design Milk TV)’s first regular series, shakes up the traditional interview format by asking designers, creatives, educators and industry professionals to select interview questions at random from their favorite bowl or vessel. During their candid discussions, you’ll not only gain a peek into their personal homeware collections, but also valuable insights into their work, life and passions.

Design Milk
This Viral, Renter-Friendly Wall Light Installs in Mere Seconds
March 6^th 2023 at 15:00

This Viral, Renter-Friendly Wall Light Installs in Mere Seconds

By: Vy Yang

When it comes to renter-friendly solutions for decorating a space, sometimes we have to choose the road that’s less aesthetically pleasing and more budget-minded to keep our landlords happy. With the Poplight Wall Light though, it doesn’t feel like we’re settling for something we don’t really want. It actually feels we found exactly what we want in a wall light. The lighting fixture is currently going viral on social media and we can see why. It’s accessible, modern, easy to install, and doesn’t leave any marks behind, much to the joy of landlords everywhere.

Available in Vermillion Red, Sage Green, and Matte Black, the Poplight Wall Light comes with a back plate that conceals two command tabs, so you won’t see the annoying ends of the strips once the light has been installed. A built-in level helps you get the perfect placement and eliminates the need for extra tools. Once the back plate has adhered to the wall, the Poplight pops on and locks into place with a slight swivel. Because it’s rechargeable via USB-C, you can remove the battery and charge it where you do have an outlet or leave it plugged it if you prefer. A single battery charge is estimated to last about 2-3 days if left on continuously.

Poplight is available to purchase via Kickstarter and has already reached its original $9,100 goal (currently at $109,495 at the timing of writing!). To learn more, visit poplightoforthepeople.com.

Design Milk
The Avro Pendant Lamp Powers up Your Electronics
March 3^rd 2023 at 16:00

The Avro Pendant Lamp Powers up Your Electronics

By: Vy Yang

It’s a common circumstance in which many of us have found ourselves from time to time. It’s that annoying moment when our phone pings us that it’s on 10% battery or our laptop screen went black because we kept ignoring the alerts – only for us to look around and discover that there are no sockets available nearby. It’s in this moment that the Avro Pendant Lamp really shines. Designed by Studio Natural for Martinelli Luce, the luminaire has a hidden feature: the lower part of its shade conceals a socket, allowing you to power your devices right at the table.

Available in four different colors (orange, light blue, white, and black), the Avro turns any dining table into a workspace. No longer would you need to find a vacant outlet or ensure your cords are long enough to reach the wall. By plugging in a multi-socket, you can power up a whole team’s worth of devices.

To learn more about the Avro Pendant Lamp, visit martinelliluce.it.

Design Milk
A’ Design Award & Competition – Call for Entries
February 6^th 2023 at 14:00

A’ Design Award & Competition – Call for Entries

By: Vy Yang

The following post is brought to you by A’ Design Award and Competition. Our partners are hand-picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

Whether you’re an emerging designer or one who has new projects in your portfolio to share, the A’ Design Award & Competition will help get your designs out onto the world stage. This year’s competition is closing soon so start your registration and application today – this year’s submission deadline is February 28, 2023!

While there are many reasons why you should take the time to enter this competition, the biggest reason is it provides a platform for you to get your name, design, and portfolio out into the design industry, which can be hard to do in this day and age. Obtaining valuable feedback from industry experts and media is also hard to come by, but this contest offers that as well during the judging process. There are over 100 categories of design, as well as special awards (like the Good Industrial Design Award and the Good Architecture Design Award), under which you can submit your design, whether it’s a concept, prototype, or finished product.

Learn more about the A’ Design Award & Competition here and check out some of last year’s lighting design winners below for some inspiration + encouragement. We’re excited to see who this year’s winners are which we will announce on April 15, 2023, so check back soon!