Jason Wech from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) invited us to attend a furniture review for one of their classes sponsored by Currey and Company, a wholesale manufacturer of distinctive home furnishings based out of Atlanta, GA. The business is best known for their chandeliers and light designs and proposed a difficult challenge to students: create a unique lighting concept with LED lights that is aesthetically pleasing, functional, and easy to maintain (since LED lights sometimes burn out) that will maintain a cool enough core temperature that it will not overheat (a frequent problem with LED lighting).

Without the constraints of traditional light bulbs, students came up with a variety of imaginative solutions. Many played on Currey and Company’s distinctive design elements, such as wire abstractions and natural materials, such as shells, recycled glass, and iron. The concepts ranged from more traditional lighting concepts and sconces to adaptions of found items such as cascading flowers and feathers, to environmentally effective solutions that tried to make the most out of the dim quality of light LED concepts frequently provide. Overall, students gained a great professional perspective on using their creativity to benefit the client. It was a pleasure sitting in on this hands-on learning experience and we are very grateful we had the opportunity to participate.