MONO — a line of designer interior lamps

Context

Decorative lamps are most often designed for the photograph, not for living next to them. They look striking in a catalogue, but in a real room they glare, throw sharp shadows and work as a bright point rather than as part of the atmosphere. I wanted to do it differently. That's how MONO appeared — a line with reflected lighting: the source is not aimed at the viewer, it gives soft light bouncing off a surface, closer to daylight than to a lamp. And the form itself stays an object that's nice to look at even switched off. Two models entered the line: MEBIUS — a round wall lamp inspired by the Möbius strip, and ZERO — an elongated vertical lamp with a replaceable central element.

Idea

The shape of MEBIUS came from the Möbius strip — a surface with no “inside” or “outside”. I liked that this geometry creates a play of light and shadow on its own: light flows around the form, reflects off it and returns to the room as a soft glow.

Process

First I held the image of the future lamp in my head, then put it on paper as a sketch. At the 3D-modelling stage I got stuck for a long time — the surfaces stubbornly refused to merge into a single form, and I had to redo them again and again. Eventually it came together, and the model became the basis for the prototype.

ZERO became the next model in the line. If MEBIUS is built around a round form and works as a wall accent, ZERO turned out to be its opposite: elongated, vertical, calm. Together they cover different interior scenarios while speaking the same language of reflected light. In ZERO I added a replaceable central element: one body and different inserts let me adapt the lamp to the interior without redesigning the whole model.

Packaging

I designed the packaging as well — it's part of the product, especially for the showroom channel and online sales. The box had to protect the lamp in shipping and hold the brand's visual line during the unboxing.

Model line

Both models share the reflected-light principle and a single visual language. MONO was well received on the market — interior designers and architects took to the lamps, they were used in residential projects and showrooms, and demand stayed steady throughout the entire sales period.

In interiors

MONO was conceived as part of a living space, not as a showroom object. In the interior the lamps work exactly that way — they give soft reflected light, create a warm atmosphere and become a calm accent on the wall. A series of visualisations shows how the line lives in different styles, from bright Scandinavian to dark contemporary.

Results

The line went the full way from sketch to serial production and was sold through showrooms and our own website. The lamps received design-of-the-year nominations in the Russian Project award by INTERIOR+DESIGN in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the line was featured in a leading design publication, and the models were picked up by interior designers and architects who used them in residential projects.