Wästberg at Orgatec

Wästberg launches two new families of lights at Orgatec 2018: w182 pastille in collaboration with Sam Hecht and Kim Colin and w181 linier in collaboration with Dirk Winkel.

Swedish lighting company Wästberg will present two new families of lights during Orgatec 23-27 October. Wästberg will showcase new collaborations with Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of London-based studio Industrial Facility and Berlin-based designer Dirk Winkel, both long-time collaborators of the brand. The new products will be shown at Orgatec where Wästberg will be exhibiting as one of the partner companies to Vitra, within their “Work” concept in their dedicated Hall 5.2.

w182 pastille, developed in collaboration with Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industrial Facility, is at its essence a pure disc of light attached to a thin line, a construction that allows a variety of ‘surfaces’ to be illuminated. Different to task lamps that illuminate in a focused way; or table and pendant lamps that provide ambient light, the w182 pastille “family of lights” sees environments as surfaces to softly illuminate, be it a wall, a floor or a table. The w182 pastille is able to freely articulate between these surfaces by rotating up, down and around. Providing a gentle light that is complimentary to interiors, w182 aims to reflect how people actually want to live and work.

Utterly simple yet flexible in its presentation, materiality and use w182 pastille is made of a high-performance material. A bio-polyamide that is based on over 60% biologically sourced and recyclable material from the castor plant. Its material provides warmth and strength, making the w182 pastille lighter and easier to adjust from anywhere on the lamp. At the top of the elegant and slender vertical pole is a single control button for turning the lamp on and off and also for dimming.

w182 pastille creates a remarkable spread of light that is warm and dimmable all from a single LED rather than an array. This reduces heat as well as energy use. This is achieved by reaching a state of equilibrium between its single light source, a large reflector and large diffuser. The result is a new kind of simplicity where the diffuser itself is as malleable with the hand as any other part of the lamp.

Sam Hecht & Kim Colin worked closely with Wästberg on how w182 pastille could adapt to a variety of spatial conditions. As a result, it can sit on a table; clamp to a desk or shelf; hang from a wall, be floor standing or integrate into a table or wall surface with no visible cable. The w182 pastille is a dynamic yet sublime series of lighting solutions suitable for a multitude of domestic and commercial environments.

Dirk Winkel has been collaborating with Wästberg since 2010. The w181 linier is the latest in this collaboration, a pendant luminaire that appears like a linear lamp at first sight, but its geometrically strict and minimalistic body actually houses a series of 260 ultra tight-packed individual optical systems. The w181 linier utilises a deep-recessed long linear lens with spot characteristics and separated glare-protection compartments. This design decision allows for an exactly defined, but warm, well-balanced and absolutely glare-free field of light on any working or dining table, like a linear spotlight. For convenient operation, the w181 has integrated dimming wheels on both ends of the luminaire, which can be turned independently to set the light level.

The optical system developed by Dirk Winkel and Wästberg directs the rays of light from the individual LEDs and groups, redirecting it through a specially developed linear spot lens. This is set back in the recessed compartments along the length of the cylinder, providing perfect glare protection and the ideal light angle to illuminate any table top.

w182 pastille and w181 linier will be showcased on the Wästberg stand – Hall 5.2. Stand A018 and in Wästberg’s showroom at Design Post.

Notes to editors

About Wästberg

The lighting company Wästberg emerged from a young Swedish man’s precocious insight. Magnus Wästberg identified a systemic failure 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.

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 ten years of activity, Wästberg is considered one of the most considered lighting companies for both domestic and commercial environments. Wästberg maintains that deep respect for the most basic human need for light- 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.

About Sam Hecht and Kim Colin | Industrial Facility

Sam Hecht and Kim Colin are partners and founders of the design office Industrial Facility in London. Their designs reflect both a meticulous attention to detail and a thoughtful consideration of its context. Hecht is from London; Colin is from Los Angeles. They have developed production projects for companies ranging from Yamaha and Issey Miyake to Herman Miller and Mattiazzi. They are probably best known for their work with Muji Japan, as world designers and advisors since 2002. They are known for creating beauty out of utility in the products, furniture and exhibitions they design.

About Dirk Winkel

Dirk Winkel is a Berlin-based product designer who studied at the University of Arts (UdK) Berlin and finished with a MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art, London in 2010. Since 2012 he is teaching Design Construction at the Industrial Design course of the UdK. He is specialised in lighting and furniture design and worked for different designers and design houses in Berlin and London before setting up his own studio in Berlin in summer 2011. His work has been featured by Frame, icon, Surface, Monocle, Gestalten Verlag and many more and was on display at numerous places like Art Basel Miami, the VitraHaus or the London Design Museum and has won several awards and nominations like GOOD DESIGN (Chicago Athenaeum), Swedish Design Award (Svensk Form), Designs of the Year and the German Design Award 2015.

Press Information
For further information, hi-res images and interviews, please contact:

Chu Goldmann, Tomorrow PR
+44 (0) 207 249 74090 / chu@tomorrowpr.co.uk