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Lighting Made with Aluminum Aerospace Parts and Wood by Alper Nakri

12.05.17 | By
Lighting Made with Aluminum Aerospace Parts and Wood by Alper Nakri

Los Angeles-based artist Alper Nakri created a series of five lamps based on his concept ‘Maybe’ where each piece has a story to tell. The Aero Series joins World War II era aluminum aerospace parts with walnut wood to explore the idea of repurposing. Behind each design, Nakri has crafted fictional stories as a way to get you to think differently about objects you use and to inspire you to dream up alternate stories of your own about them. The main components of each fixture are parts produced by and for California’s Lockheed Corporation, which closed in the 1970s resulting in the inventory landing in junkyards. By utilizing these 1940s aeronautical parts and turning them in light fixtures in 2017, Nakri connect the pieces to their history.

Aero No: 01 \\\ Table lamp

LISTEN:

Germany. 1944. Pasadena born fighter pilot Markus Elber plunged his Lockheed P-38 straight into a barrage of enemy anti-aircraft fire knowing it was the only way to save his squadron. Maybe it was a miracle. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was this tiny piece of aluminum that kept the plane for falling apart as he leveled out hard over the tree line. But somehow, he survived.

After the war, when the American planes were put out to scrap. They were dismantled and sent to junkyards in Burbank, California. Maybe Marcus’ elder son Vincent spent days and days there looking for that piece from his father’s fighter plane, that tiny relic to which he owed his very existence. And who knows, maybe that precious aluminum piece has found a new body in this table lamp.

Maybe in the home of this lamp’s new owner, at their bedside, it will start illuminating the pages of an old book they read. And maybe, without anyone noticing, it will brighten one of the darkest moments of World War II history.

Aero No: 04 \\\ Floor lamp

LISTEN:

For David and Elizabeth, it was love at first sight. David was a tall, handsome young man with adventure in his heart. And even though she was born in San Francisco, Elizabeth dressed like a lady of French high society. Her dearest dream was to strut down the Champs-Élysées swinging her long maroon skirt.

One morning, David told Elizabeth that he had a surprise for her. He blindfolded her and drove her out to a hangar at Buchanan Field Airport. When he removed her blindfold, her bright blue eyes were greeted with a little two-seater airplane painted an almost blinding yellow. The plane had been left to David by his father, a World War II test pilot who somehow convinced his colonel to let him fly his plane home. What had been a war plane was about to become a love plane…

They first went to New York, and then Canada, Greenland, Ireland and finally France… It was a dream come true for Elizabeth. She was walking on air, almost breathless as the two finally strolled the Champs-Élysées together. David gently held her hand, looked in her eyes, and got down on one knee. Producing a velvet box from his pocket, he asked that eternal question which would bind them together forever…

Today, David and Elizabeth still live together happily in a house in Los Angeles, California. The yellow Big Dipper 34 that accompanied them during the most unforgettable moments of their lives has since moved on. And maybe, without even noticing, it creates the body of this lamp, which will soon be illuminating its new home.

More in the series:

Aero No: 02 \\\ Pendant lamp [Read the story and listen on anconcept.com]

Aero No: 03 \\\ Pendant lamp [Read the story and listen on anconcept.com]

Aero No: 05 \\\ Wall lamp [Read the story and listen on anconcept.com]

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.