annabella hevesi's modular lighting evoke the popular roly-poly toy

‘roly-poly’ modular lighting recalls hungary in the 1960s-70s

Hungarian furniture and industrial designer Annabella Hevesi has launched ‘Roly-Poly,’ a modular lighting series of enameled lamps sporting a combination of blue, white, and red. These spherical, glossy luminaires can be stacked to create delightful variations of a hanging light sculpture. Alternatively, they can be kept separate and serve as individual desk lights or floor lamps.

Dating as far back as the 13th century BC, enameling is the act of coating metals (copper, silver, or gold) with a richly colored layer of powdered glass (i.e., tiny glass particles) by fusing it with heat. The result is a lustrous and vibrant finish widely used for jewlery and homeware products; with this project, Hevesi hopes to shed light on the craft that swept through Soviet Hungary at one point.

‘Roly-Poly’ modular lighting | image © Annabella Hevesi

The concept behind Hevesi’s project branches out into two sources. On the one hand, she was heavily inspired by the ‘Architectural Enamel Art Camp’ — a series of activities that burgeoned at the Bonyhád Enamel Factory in the 1960s-70s in Hungary. Abstract painter Kamill Major launched the artistic program before postwar and contemporary artist Ferenc Lantos took over and was joined by Gyula Pauer, Tihamér Gyarmathy, and Oszkár Papp, among others. Together, the Hungarian artists began experimenting with enamel work to construct totem-like outdoor structures that often incorporated everyday Soviet-era objects.

an enameled lamp series | image © Annabella Hevesi

On the other hand, as its name suggests, the lighting series recalls ‘the popular, metal stamped roly-poly toy. It evokes the consolidating hungarian 70’s (the Kádár regime) and the Soviet-style previews of the rough and charming world of enamelled metal children’s toys at once. Besides this cultural sociological origin, the luminaire also creates parallels using the formal gestures and elementary geometry of the toy,’ writes the designer.

creating different configurations | image © Annabella Hevesi

standalone or stacked: customize your lighting design

Individually, the ‘Roly-Poly’ modular lighting serves as a standing lamp which can tilt out of its vertical axis and rest on any flat surface thanks to an added weight hidden inside the sphere, making it easy to operate and rotate in any direction. Meanwhile, the built-in LED source diffuses out of a funnel-looking head, creating a dimmed ambient lighting. ‘Uninterrupted wobbling is also supported by the fact that the power cord is not connected to the lamp from below but through the funnel,’ notes the designer.

When assembled, the ‘Roly-Poly’ turns into a pendant lamp evoking the outdoor, totem-like statues built during the ‘Architectural Enamel Art Camp’ period. Users can stack two, five, or even ten luminaires to heighten the sculptural appearance. ‘As the individual lamp elements still provide indirect light, the multi-element, strung ‘totem poles’ also result in an increasingly accentuated and spectacular play of light, enhancing the plasticity and symbolism of the object,‘ continues Hevesi.

Each luminaire incorporates a warm-white LED light sources with adjustable brightness. The standing lamps will have an automated adjustment feature, while stacked/suspended pieces will be operated via a wall control switch. Furthermore, all visible cable strings are weaved with a unique textile.

the design evokes the popular toy from the 70s in Hungary | image © Artúr Ekler

reviving the fire enameling technique

Hevesi worked with Hungarian manufacturers and craftspeople to produce her designs at the Bonyhád Enamel Factory, still operating as a maker of enameled dishes and boards. First, metal sheets are spun to form the basic lamp structure: a set of two semi-spheres with a funnel on one end. Once metal spinning is complete, the enameling process begins, and each half gets coated with a color. The current combinations available are a mix of blue, red, and white. The funnel, however, is kept white across all ‘Roly-Poly’ modules.

Reflecting on her approach to revive this crafting technique, the designer states: ‘Fire enameling is a recyclable surface treatment process, making it an ideal solution to replace the more common plastic-based powder coating. With the ‘Roly-poly’ enameled lamp family, we have taken the first step in rediscovering this technology. In the future, we will examine the new possibilities and sustainable aspects of enameling which also allows for greater variety in the surface treatment of the lamp.’

testing a suspended variation | image © Artúr Ekler

enameling at the factory | image © Artúr Ekler

the ‘Roly-Poly’ is composed of two semi-spheres | image © Artúr Ekler

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image © Artúr Ekler

image © Annabella Hevesi

image © Artúr Ekler

image © Anett Pósalaki

project info:

name: ‘Roly-Poly’ modular lighting

design & renders: Annabella Hevesi | @bellannabellanna
development: LumoConcept | @lumoconcept
project management: Gábor Bella, Annabella Hevesi

manufacturing: Ema-lion enamel factory
logo design: Dare studio | @dare_studio_hu

photography: Artúr Ekler | @eklerartur, Anett Pósalaki | @anettposalaki
collaborators: Edit Lukács, Fanni Czegle, Gergely Tasnádi,
Benedek Bella, acb Gallery, BER-TIB Bt.

lea zeitoun I designboom

nov 11, 2022