LV light

the LV light is made from two rectangles of beech veneer cut into the proportion 1 by 3.

the veneers are overlaid and glued together at 90 degrees, once set the open corners are twisted together overlaid and glued again to form the cone.

the resultant cone fits perfectly over a 60 degree (equilateral cone). the bottom edge arcs have the the length 3 whilst the top arcs forming the opening have length 1.  As the over lap is a square the diagonal is of length root 2.  the base diameter and length of the sides are therefore root 2 + root 2/2.

if the rectangles of veneer are 150mm x 450mm as per the example above then the base and side dimensions of the cone is 318.2mm.

general notes:

overlapping the veneers by 90 degrees has structural advantages and it leaves no end grain exposed so the form is surprisingly resilient.

the veneer should be glue pressed over a curved, ideally conical form.

the veneer should be prefinished before forming.  single layer veneer has a tendency to deform under the heat of the lamp, resin backing can help to make the veneer more stable but it reduces the veneers light transmittance properties.

The lamp and shade holder was made from a folded brass strip with a hole in the middle for the lamp and bent up with screw fixings to the shade.

the corners were cut in an arch to make the overall form more aesthetically pleasing, this has no effect on the structural integrity.

I made similar designs to this light when at university in 1993-94 but this particular form was refined and detailed in 2002. 

for further developments on twisted forms refer to Marten Nettelbladt's blog

http://thegeometryofbending.blogspot.com/2010/06/analyzing-drop-shape.html