Stardust, Technical advisor, Hyuns Hong



Won Joon Lee recently unveiled a seriously sweet LED lamp at the Milan Furniture Fair that incorporates crystallized sugar as a source of energy-efficient light. Dubbed the Stardust lamp, the piece was created by placing LEDs in a concentrated sugar bath for 10 days, which caused them to grow a rock candy-like shell. The modular lamp was showcased as part of the part of the Loaded exhibition at Rossana Orlandi's.



WINTER/SPRING 2011 D.O. Collection #1&2

Won Joon Lee was born in Seoul, Korea and is currently studying for his BFA in designed objects at the SAIC in Chicago. Stardust is the result of an intense two-semester design project that focused on the history, physicality and currency of the materials iron and sugar. Joon Lee wanted to create an object that explored the use of sugar in design — he states: “As coffee sweetens with sugar, Stardust investigates and peels back the layers of sugar to reveal new meanings to designers, producers and markets.”

The modular light was inspired by the shape of the sugar molecule, and the design’s PCB (printed circuit board) is a metaphor or clue that speaks of the intricate ‘mechanical’ or ‘biological’ story. To create the sugar light source, Joon Lee experimented with sugar by burning, melting, freezing, breaking and growing it. He settled upon submerging LEDs in a bath of concentrated sugar water, which caused light-diffracting sugar crystals to grow around the diodes.

Joon Lee’s Stardust lamp presents a new way of using sugar as an environmentally friendly, sustainable resource at a time when trade is the cause of many problems connected to the design practice. The designer stresses that Stardust is at an early stage in its lifecycle, and if he finds support, he will continue experimenting with colored and fluorescent substances. There are practically as many ways to develop the design as there are ways to take your coffee.

Won Joon Lee

Night Owl Floor Lamp, Stainless steel, polyamide shade, floor dimmer, 60-watt incandescent bulb

Mask Love Seat is created using a sand-cast technique by pouring the molten aluminum into a single moid. The surface is hand polished th show the true beauty of this natural material



Recent collection and the future of manufacturing in China
From bottom left: Wen Chaise Lounge, Storm Trash Bin, Mojave Chair

Dune Seating Unit, polyurethan foam, cotton fabric covering: rug hand knoted from Nepal in wool and silk



Swiss Knife Seating Unit ,  fabric polyurethan foam, wood frame and aluminum swivelmechanism



Sublime Seating Group fabric polyurethan foam, wood frame and down feather filled throw pillow



Infinity Home Office



Trio Contemporary Coffee table

Table is designed by San Francisco industrial and furniture designer Rick Lee.

The detachable drawer box features an inside drawer with storage compartments in the rear. Set perpendicularly it may form an L or T shape or it may be pulled in/out; drawer box could also be pushed out to form a magazine rack in the cut out.
Pushed in the cut out could form a build-in dish. Set on castors with aluminum trim at the bottom. Drawer box available in Matte Espresso finish or in Matte White lacquer.

Industrial designer Rick Lee was born in Korea, grew up in the US, has worked in Chicago and Italy, and now designs for restaurants, celebrities, the opera, television sets, and largescale furniture purveyors like American Leather.
But with life experiences culled from far and wide, we're charmed and intrigued that Lee says that his primary design influence is his fashion-designer wife, Colleen Quen.