coral blanche, 2020

Designer: Yongwook Seong

2020 LIT Lighting Design Awards (Honourable Mention)

Coral Blanche is a floor lamp project intended to explore Coral Bleaching in design language. Coral Bleaching is a global issue that a macro scale of coral reefs experience a whitening phenomenon devastated by the rise of ocean temperature. The Coral Bleaching process is initiated by polyps displacing algae in the coral tissues, subsequently leading to corals' starvation and death. Ironically, the whitening process is the transient beauty due to corals' effort to survive. When algae displacement is prolonged, corals' starvation continues on. These bleached corals then soon become decayed, eventually facing with their dire consequences, destruction of coral reefs and extensive marine life degradation. 

Coral Blanche can be ideally placed for floor lighting or wall lighting. The structure (biodegradable blends) is designed to be a bleached sea fan coral, and ten LED bulbs are affixed to the structure. The light bulbs represent eggs laid by coral fishes. These eggs light up their lives while being exposed to potential threats as their cradles are rapidly perished.