Wästberg at Orgatec

Swedish lighting company Wästberg will be exhibiting as one of the partner companies to Vitra, within their ̈Work ̈ concept in the dedicated hall 5.2 at Orgatec in Cologne, 25-29 October. ̈Work ̈ aims to foster a holistic vision of workplace environments.

Wästberg will be offering an opportunity to experience how lighting, through a relevant balance between new technology and human needs, can play an important role within the context of ̈Work ̈. As a tool for work as well as a source of ambience.

Among the products that will be displayed at Orgatec are:

w164 alto

w164 alto is a new type of free standing lamp for indirect light. The pole houses a sophisticated 10,000 Lumen multi-directional LED technique, giving a very even and super-wide-angle light distribution. Almost 180°.

The top disc of the base is a large dimming wheel, which also includes the switch. w 164 alto features dynamic dimming meaning that the colour temperature of the light gets warmer when the lamp is dimmed down.

The off-centre lateral constellation of the cylindrical units evokes a brutalist, deconstructionist view on architecture. w164 alto shares these values to become the definition of the attitude behind the concept. Design: Dirk Winkel.

w162 dalston

w162 dalston is influenced by the pendant lamps commonly found in workshops and warehouses. These lamps display an honesty and practicality in their light output, materiality and durability. w162 dalston refines and updates this practicality with the latest LED light source, directing light downwards, as well as partly illuminating its outside shade. The materials and construction are equally simple and durable. A die-cast aluminium LED unit acts both as an efficient heat-sink and as a method of carrying different shade sizes in both spun metal and glass. The method of construction - die-cast LED unit and separate shade - allows for extensive customisation, using the RAL system. This gives you the possibility to match w162 dalston perfectly to any interior specification. It is suitable for domestic, hospitality and contract use. Design: Sam Hecht & Kim Colin.

w152 busby

For a long time, lamps were an electrical experience - the light being evidence of the electrical current that passed through a filament. But now, modern lighting has become unrecognisable, no longer the subject of electricity, but of electronics. Printed circuit boards, micro-chips, diodes and interfaces are now staple ingredients, giving us greater control, conserving energy and providing longer lifespans. This transformation is a chance to establish new possibilities for the meeting point between light and electronics.

This is not a story about gadgetry (regardless of technical achievements), but rather an affirmation about how we live - wherever light is supplied, power is often also required to charge our burgeoning electronic devices. w152 busby is an electronic lamp that provides intelligent universal power from three USB outlets, detecting charging requirements and managing them at their fastest rate, no matter how many variable devices are plugged in. It provides a total of 45 W and 9 Amps of power - enough to manage the latest generation of laptop computers. It can be supplied either as a freestanding or wall-mounted lamp, or built into a surface. The w152 busby illuminates and powers the office, the workshop, the library, the living room and the bedside table. Design: Sam Hecht & Kim Colin.

w127 winkel

The w127 winkel is the result of a progressive collaboration between Wästberg, the Berlin-based designer Dirk Winkel and the Gemany-based chemical company BASF. Working with features such as solid and by large extent biologically sourced plastic, highly efficient LEDs and micro gas springs, we spent more than three years developing what we consider to be the most refined task light ever seen.

The w127 winkel table lamp challenges the perception of a material that is known to people as just plastic, going further than the norm, not only in terms of function and looks, but also in terms of the feel and tactility of the material. The aim was a significant impression of substance, of materiality - the design celebrates the actual material as it is, straightforward, solid and honest, with a concept of hiding nothing, but showing its innermost values to the outside. No second skin, no paint coat; the true, bold material in its pure form.

We use a new high performance material that offers the possibility of doing large, solid cross-sections, giving us the desired tactility and technical characteristics. Last but not least, it is based on over 60% biologically sourced and recyclable material from the castor plant. This represents a step ahead by setting the course for producing independently of mineral oil based plastics. Design: Dirk Winkel.

Notes to Editors:

The lighting company Wästberg emerged from a young Swedish man’s precocious insight. He had identified a systemic failure prevailing in most of the offices and public places of the world - a problem so monumental that no one neither bothered, nor wanted to, confront it.

In a printed manifesto entitled Lamps for Neanderthal Man (2008), he outlined a development gone awry a very long time ago. In brief, man had, in a misguided pursuit of efficiency and standardisation, been deprived of private spheres, with light as sole protection and trust.

Wästberg wanted to bring back light to human proximity. Open the eyes of those who close them, without blinding them. Rekindle the appreciation of sublime shadows and contrasts. Economise on energy and materials, particularly important in a world that has exceeded its moral authority.

With a scaled-down general lighting in the ceiling, and sophisticated direct light from desk lamps, wall lamps, floor lamps and pendant lamps, Wästberg wanted to build a new... whole. Cold and sterile environments with constant static brightness could be turned into atmospheric environments through beautiful and functional lighting that lend well-being. The sophisticated direct lighting remained to be created.

After almost nine years of activity, Wästberg has now left its own private sphere - to be considered as an established player in, and for, the public eye. This has not hindered the development of lamps for people’s homes.

For the rest, little has changed since the start. What remains is the deep respect for the most basic human need - expressed through the combination of aesthetics, cutting-edge technology and resource conservation. What also remains is the close collaboration with some of the world’s most renowned architects, designers and lighting experts.

Interview requests and press contact:
Lotta Wästberg
+46 72 232 4010
lotta.wastberg@wastberg.com

High resolution images:
www.wastberg.com/press/news