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London Design Festival 2012: David Irwin

David Irwin M Lamp

If there was a “man of the match” for the London Design Festival, I think David Irwin would be it – his name just seemed to pop up everywhere. He had his own stand within 100% Design’s Emerging Designers section and his products also featured on Deadgood’s stand and on the Designers In Residence stand at designjunction. Everywhere I turned – there he was, and with good reason. His products are gorgeous!

David Irwin M Lamp

David’s M Lamp is inspired by 19th century miners’ lamps from the North East of England where he lives. It is completely wireless and changes between a bright emergency light, a normal light and a dimmed light with a tap to the top, making it perfect for a bedside light.

David Irwin M Lamp

The head is full adjustable and it comes in orange, black and white. David has launched this product on crowd-funding site, Kickstarter and is hoping to get enough support to put it into production.

David Irwin EXTL lights

The other product that David was showing at 100% Design has already found a home and will be distributed by Deadgood. It’s the EXTL light. These are prototypes; it will eventually be finished in black.

David Irwin EXTL lights

It’s made from a single sheet of extruded metal cut in alternate directions to form six pieces that fit together into a hexagonal cone. Just one other piece of metal and two silicone bands, which fit into existing grooves, are all that’s needed to put it together.

David Irwin EXTL lights

David said he wanted to make the product with as little waste as possible, partly out of a sense of environmental responsibility, but also out of a very pragmatic desire to keep production costs as low as possible. Definitely one to watch.

David Irwin EXTL lights

Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven journalist, author and, podcaster championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories. She is also the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a program and membership community for designer-makers who want to join the circular economy. With 20 years' experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Monocle24 – as well as being Editor at Large for Design Milk. She is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and a podcast, Circular with Katie Treggiden.