As the exclusive media partner for the L A M P 2023 International Lighting Design Competition, we’re excited to announce this year’s winning designs! This year’s contest garnered submissions from 110+ cities from 40+ countries, and the designers and their work were juried by Rakuma, Atelier Areti, and the L A M P co-founding partners. The winners of each overall category (Student, Professional, and Manufactured), as well as the winners of each subcategory, are listed below. Congratulations to all!

Student Overall / Floor: Inside by Shevtsova Anastasia (Moscow, Russian Federation)

The floor lamp “Inside” invites you on a journey through the world of sensations and immerses you in a flow of thoughts, detached from everyday life. It is about internal dialogue, the depth of relationships with oneself and the surrounding world, and personal space.

Student Portable: Taut by Lieyah Dagan (Los Angeles, California)

Taut is a lamp designed to be played with and changed. Its two-part design features a flexible flat sheet that can be inserted into a pronged base in different ways to create a variety of lamp shade forms and lighting effects. The shade is held in place through tension, making it easy to customize.

Student Pendant/Sconce (tie): Hortus by Ka Wai Yuen (Hong Kong)

This innovative DIY design set offers fresh opportunities for users to nurture, engage, and revive their intimacy. The lampshade’s wooden structure, free of glue, allows users to weave rattan-shaped fabric onto the frame, creating personalized lampshades. The kit includes flower and bird- shaped magnets and cards, enabling users to infuse sentiments and memories, and fostering shared experiences with their partners.

Student Pendant/Sconce (tie): Material Objects: PS/PND by Rachel McGovern (Los Angeles, California)

The PS/PND pendant showcases the common yet structurally supportive perforated sheet in collaboration with electrical braided sleeving. Used for general wire management, bundling and identification. The braided sleeving is now used to deform a single LED strip to create a dynamic weaving of light, color and pattern.

Student Portable (tie): – Mellow by María del Mar González (Almería, Spain)

Mellow is a small portable outdoor lamp designed for a dinner with family or friends in a garden, park or beach. Since the light is emitted around but not upwards, it allows to illuminate the table and the environment without invading the visual field while having a relaxed conversation.

Student Portable (tie): Lume by Chris Jing (China)

Lume is a family of lamps to elevate the coffee-drinking experience. Lume gives people a relaxing mood, sitting quietly beside that cup of coffee. Lume Outdoor is used within coffee stores, and Lume Home is a premium collectible to bring the coffee experience home. They share the exact same lighting unit. The design challenges are incorporating LEDs into a small space and achieving convenient recharging purposes.

Student Outdoor: Starfall by Haoda Ma (Los Angeles, California)

Starfall pendant works with wind to create memorable starry night effects. The inner perforated brass tube projects starry light effects onto the outer recycled polyethylene tube. The inner tube is fixed in place, while the outer tube hangs from the top of the light fixture and moves subtly and elegantly with the breeze. The subtle movement in the outer tube allows the star projection to flow, creating a magical and transforming starry night, while the downlight provides a steady light source for general usage.

Professional Overall: Minima by PatkauProducts: John Patkau, Zachary Morris (Vancouver, Canada)

The name Minima tells the story of the surface. We developed it through many experiments of stretching, bending, restraining, pulling, warping, and frequently destroying various materials. The complex form that emerged is the minimum 3D surface between 2D curves. It is internally static, manufacturable, and visually dynamic.

Professional Table: Spire by Aris Rubio / Aris Studio) (Banyoles / Spain)

Spire’s design moves away from the traditional ecological product and seeks new alternatives to over-exploited materials such as wood. It is designed to simplify processes and can be made from different materials, such as recycled aluminium, which is presented in indefinitely reusable tubes to reduce the carbon footprint.

Professional Pendant/Sconce: Trapeze by Eric Kirwin (Toronto, Canada)

Trapeze is a fixture that captures suspense. A dance between the pull of the anchor, and the push of the body delivers a sense of kinetic wonder and visual gratification. A moment of tension delivers a composition of stillness and precarity. Physical properties are carefully juggled to capture a precise relationship between gravity, resistance, and resolution.

Professional Floor (tie): Minima by PatkauProducts: John Patkau, Zachary Morris (Vancouver, Canada)

Professional Floor (tie): SONIAH by Victoria Yakusha / Faina Design (Kyiv, Ukraine)

SONIAH from Ukrainian ‘soniah’ means a sunflower. Highly appreciated on Ukrainian land from where comes the author of the collection, a sunflower serves as the main symbol rebirthed in the form of the objects. Primitive Soniah floor lamps stem from the ground stretching their tall sculptural stalks up to the sky.

Professional Portable (tie): Cosmos by Myrto Grigori (New York City, NYC)

Cosmos lamps serve as an evocative representation of the theory that the universe is shaped like a donut or a torus. The central axis and two vortices on either end constantly cycle energy and information, while anything introduced into the vortex will continuously cycle around the torus in an endless loop.

Professional Portable (tie): Hero by Gabriele Cappelletti (Carimate, Italy)

Hero is a portable lamp designed for kids. One of the primary goals of the Hero lamp is to ignite child’s imagination. By resembling the shape of a superhero, the lamp becomes a source of inspiration, encouraging kids to create their own stories and adventures. Hero is designed to be more than just a lamp; it’s meant to be a source of comfort and security for children.

Manufactured Overall / Table: Spegla Mirror Lamp by Jochen Lavéno Mangelsdorff (Stockholm, Sweden)

The two-sided Spegla Mirror Lamp is based on a specific mirror glass that is not completely opaque. The result is an interior object that acts as a mirror when the lamp behind the circular glass sheet isn’t lit.

Manufactured Pendant/Sconce: X lamp by Hassene Jeljeli, JK lighting, JK design SARL (Tunis, Tunisia)

X lamp is the result of a project to create a square monolithic lamp by assembling parts from a single material. The collection consists of three table lamps and three smaller pendant lamps, with the aim of producing as minimal waste as possible. The heart of these lamps is made of Tunisian plywood, a very banal material in Tunisia, and the idea was to ennoble it. The light is diffused upwards and spreads warmly through the translucent marble.

Acoustic: Illumiknotti by Alicia Tam Wei (New York, NYC)

“ILLUMIKNOTTI” seamlessly intertwines form, function, style and sustainability. Warm globes of light are wrapped within soft, inviting knotted forms. Offered in both pendant and table lamp styles, the knit forms are based on mathematical concepts such as torus knots and Borromean rings. Produced using a machine-knit technique, our designs harness mathematics to push the boundaries of conventional production methods to create sound-absorbing soft sculptures with embedded lighting elements.

People’s Choice Manufactured (tie): Helios by Studio Zoran Strijbosch (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Drawing from ancient concepts, “Helios” pays homage to light’s circular dance. This design invites interaction, allowing you to play with light’s intensity by moving the sphere. Just as Helios shaped the sun’s path, you become the one who controls the brightness, creating a captivating dance of light.

People’s Choice Manufactured (tie): Faucet by Blanca Codina (Barcelona, Spain)

The Faucet Lamp pours light instead of water. This luminous object preserves the curved silhouette of a faucet employing it for a different purpose. Functioning as a lamp further allows the faucet-shaped item to be displaced from its usual location in the kitchen or bathroom to other rooms in the home space. This lamp is part of a series of explorations into how existing forms can be employed for different functions, aiming to create new conversations around everyday objects.

People’s Choice Professional: PlankNPlay by Thalis Nicolaou Studio (Nicosia, Cyprus)

Plank N’ Play is an innovative flat-pack lamp that seamlessly merges form and function. Our primary goal was to reimagine lighting design, focusing on sustainability and user engagement. Plank N’ Play challenges convention by harmonizing a natural wood receiver with a contemporary painted-finish base, highlighting material contrast.

People’s Choice Student: Pepper by Alessa Joanna Grotz and Franziska Antonia Hammer / STUDIO LESSONI (Germany)

Pepper is designed with the intention of creating a portable luminaire that allows atmospheric and functional light. The user is able to adjust the lighting situation by rotating the shell for direct or indirect lighting and the possibility to dim mechanically. The luminaire wraps the room into a soft light by indirect wallwashing, but also offers the option for a direct reading light, which makes it the perfect bedroom lighting.

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As the Senior Contributing Editor, Vy Yang is obsessed with discovering ways to live well + with intention through design. She’s probably sharing what she finds over on Instagram stories. You can also find her at vytranyang.com.

Anand Sheth is the man creating a sense of discovery through the design process at Studio Anand Sheth, which opened its doors in 2021. The San Francisco-based architecture and interiors firm practices holistic design that’s strong in concept and artful in point of view. From arts-driven hospitality spaces to gathering-focused residences to localized workplace environments, Anand’s work is resourceful and inventive, reframing our perspective by focusing on changemaking. The result is that each project adds energy to – and shifts the dynamics of – our every day.

“The architectural process has been a part of my entire life. My dad is a construction manager, and a former engineer, and I was surrounded by dozens of copies of old school blueprints at home,” Anand shared. “One of the tasks that folks in the industry will know well is “clouding changes” on multiple copies of drawings – and that’s something I helped him do when I was a kid. Not sure if that was my “hobby,” but I definitely enjoyed spending time doing it.”

He continued: “Design, as opposed to the process of architecture, came to me in waves afterward. I recall sketching floor plans of homes for my childhood friends based on their personalities – indoor pools for the athletes, an entire floor of guest rooms for the social ones, etc. As a teenager, I observed the diverse built environment between South LA and the beach cities. And my career in design formally began after I graduated high school and moved to San Francisco to study architecture.”

Anand’s process is cohesive and very communicative, beginning with hand sketches, architectural drawings, and diagrammatic design representations. These phases work together to establish the intent of each project and fuel it to the finish line. It’s through a clarified aesthetic vision and what his clients value individually that allows the individual narratives to emerge.

That narrative is hugely important to Anand, and leads to what he might do professionally in a parallel life. “I would be a writer. I like to see my architectural work as narrative-rich, and I’m often searching for the “story” behind the spaces and objects I encounter. But there’s something very satisfying about literal storytelling. It’s hard work, and I hope I get there one day, to achieve a direct connection with the reader.”

Anand has created numerous hospitality spaces, including Bar Part Time, Hi Felicia, Sluts the Wine Bar, and Popi’s Oysterette, and several private residences in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Throughout his career, Anand has strived to balance architecture with service, having served as the Design Lead for GROUND, the non-profit urban platform for activating formerly vacant lots and buildings to restore Black use, an artist-in-residence with Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and a mentor through CCA and NOMA’s Project Pipeline.

We’re happy to have Anand Sheth join us for today’s Friday Five!

Photo courtesy Jose Castellar

1. “La Folie” by Tarek Shamma

I’m uncharacteristically satisfied, and mildly obsessed, with “La Folie,” a gathering structure designed by Tarek Shamma in Melides, Portugal, for his client Christian Louboutin. It’s inspired by dozens of art and cultural themes including James Turrell, Rajasthani stepwells, the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, Carlo Scarpa, and more. Perhaps my favorite aspect is the radically honest name, La Folie, or The Folly, “because it’s just for fun.”

Photo courtesy Karu Research

2. Contemporary South Asian Embroidery

Emily Bode popularized eastern embroideries in contemporary western menswear, and deserves credit for that, but it’s abundantly clear that she’s tapped into a craft that is centuries old, sacred, and not coincidentally ancestral to her Indian-American spouse. I’m thrilled to see how many South Asian fashion companies are coming online in recent years, focusing on intricate narrative-rich embroidery that transcends boundaries. Fashion brands like Karu Research, Adish, Aomi, Harago, Two Point Studio, Rastah, Darwaza, Wunderhaus, and Johargram. I’m lucky to own some pieces from this emerging movement of designers and they are some of my favorite things to wear.

Photos courtesy Miguel Adrover’s Instagram

3. Miguel Adrover’s Instagram

I have no idea how or when I stumbled upon the Instagram page for fashion designer Miguel Adrover, but it hasn’t disappointed. The artist’s compelling and confronting self-portraits amaze me – his proportions, age, and fearless costuming are superb. He’s been ahead of his time since he rose to fame in the aughts. Adrover has an urgency to his aesthetic that is impossible to unsee.

Photo courtesy Jeff Martin

4. “Sarcophagus” Ceramic Sculptures by Jeff Martin

Jeff Martin Joinery has recently produced a series of ceramic sculptures featuring an evocative dimensional tile that appears almost soft, like extruded dough. He’s calling everything “sarcophagus“ (table, console, etc.) and I’m impressed by the volumes and colors that seem to pull together architecture, textiles, ceramics, and viennoiserie.

Photo courtesy Mooni

5. Ángela Leyva’s Portraits

I first discovered Ángela Leyva’s portraits this spring at Salon Acme, the art fair in Mexico City. Their work scares me, honestly. I’m frightened to see beyond the familiar lines and curves of the human face and into the abject psyche, but not necessarily the psyche of the subject – it’s reflecting onto me as if I’m the only one with this visual perspective. I find myself considering what’s hidden in plain sight. It’s a smash hit and I purchased a piece for my San Francisco flat this year.

Work by Anand Sheth:

Photo: Ulysses Ortega

Bar Part Time is a visionary wine bar in the Mission District of San Francisco. Three friends and wine nerds ganged together to create something special – a vinyl-driven community dance hall, natural wine dive bar with an eclectic aesthetic honoring all the places and people they love. Together, we took over an abandoned dive bar where we all spent our early 20’s; strategically repairing what worked and replacing what didn’t.

Studio Anand Sheth assembled a team of favorites, including millworker extraordinaire Brandt Hewitt (Medium Small) and go-to hospitality contractor Cookline Construction. We sourced vintage light fixtures from eBay and Stuff (a vintage store around the corner), power-clashed patterns in the flooring and restrooms, and enlisted Meryl Pataky to create the perfectly nostalgic neon pieces above the bar and in the window.

Photo: Michael Irwin

Studio Anand Sheth teamed up with Bay Area-based landscape architect Dune Hai to create a resourceful and color-driven garden as an extension of this Los Angeles couple’s first home. The result is an outdoor living room concept that came to life as if it always existed within the tranquil hills of Eagle Rock.

Inspired by the forms of the Burle Max rooftops in Brazil, they carved curves into linear cedar elements to allow earth and plantings to take up more space. Now, living greens – from Fan Palms to Monkey Flower to Silver Feather Grass – thrive between the outdoor “rooms” for living, dining, warming, and (eventually) soaking.

Photo: Nicholas Ruiz

The firm’s design of Retool’s Mission District headquarters encourages observation, personal connection, and reflection. Consideration of the potential internal happenings inspired the space’s design foundation: a new perspective of “the workplace,” company culture, and – most importantly – its people.

We transformed 72,000 square feet of commercial office space across four floors of a historic industrial building. Careful design decisions tie the four-floor design program together with purpose and ease — art from architectural artists like Rowan Bouroullec, Natascha Madeiski, Sohan Murthy and Tauba Aerbach fill the walls. All conference rooms feature a painted wainscot application using Farrow and Ball colors that coordinate with Maharam Fabrics upholstery. We added accessories like accent pillows, rugs, coasters, planters, and Japanese toolboxes to complete the space.

Photo: Joseph Kramm

The New York iteration of Retool’s workplace design features a palette of wall finishes from repeat vendors and Abnormal Anonymous, smartly reused furniture, and strategic lighting upgrades throughout. The firm broke the typical formal office reception in favor of welcoming guests and employees into a working lounge, outfitted with a second custom neon sign by NY-based Ali Feeney over brand-reminiscent wallpaper. The lunchroom and meeting rooms adopted a unique painted wainscot approach, a favorite for accenting spaces with exposed ceilings, and acoustic materials integrated into ceilings, walls, lighting, and custom curtains.

Photo: Nicholas Ruiz

Stepping inside Popi’s Oysterette evokes a family dinner setting that’s right on the Northern California coastline – think crashing waves, shimmering reflected daylight, twilight, and sandy boulders traversed in dress shoes. Founders of the popular Tacolicious restaurants spun off to create a jewel-box seafood restaurant for Top Chef alum and local “Seafood Queen” Melissa Perfit (Bar Crudo, Sister) – the buzzy corner spot slings the best oysters, seafood, and crisp wines the region has to offer.

Studio Anand Sheth developed a deep and strategic palette of seaside-inspired elements. A custom blue terrazzo by Concrete Collaborative clads dining counters providing a vibrant backdrop to the Oysterette’s offerings, while stacked azure zellige tiles create a grid of natural texture. Sconce lighting from Cedar and Moss are the pearls, too on-the-nose? The restroom is wrapped in Douglas fir panels that reference the exposed ceiling structure and new furnishings, and ceramic tiles from Zia and fluid wallpaper depicting swimmers. Hand-painted signage by Manny Fabregas adorns the exterior and hearkens back to the historic fish markets of the Marina District. The resulting experience is playful, direct, and memorable.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she’s likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.