“Dai ” is a table lamp inspired by the empowering message about hard working women of the Dai people in Yunnan shaded by a tilted straw hat. The translucent shade, with a unique form and detailed with an etched pattern, looks to create a unique table lamp experience that makes the figure glow with a functional downlight. The table light design looks to celebrate and shine a light a figures that are usually hidden.
With a family background from a southern province in China called Yunnan, Ming-Li looked to translate a mood and message that stuck with him since a very young age. The light references a dance choreographed by Liping Yang. The choreography depicts a group of woman of the Dai minority people in China and what it means to be a woman in the community. The dance is accented by this unique tilted hat worn by every dancer. This hat not only hid the faces of the dancers but in doing so brought attention to the movement and empowering message behind the dance.
These hats were designed to shade working woman from the light but in this design, Ming-Li looked to create a light source that not only has down light but bounced uplight that brought attention and shined a light on the metaphorical figure. The illustrative etched pattern on the shade along with the asymmetrical two-toned finished on the base conveys the movement and emotions of the dancers.
The table lamp uses a unique manufacturing method and light source that creates a one of a kind glow providing a sculptural luminaire experience along with a functional down light. The pattern on the shade uses an innovative way of laser etching a texture on both sides of the plastic to then be vacuum formed and cut to create the sculptural hat shape. The base looks to use a slip cast process to create uniform ceramic base that can have two-toned glaze applied to create the texture.
Ming-Li Chang
The message behind the lamp looks to shine a light on the woman of the Dai minority, hopefully bringing up more conversations about what it means to be a woman in rural China. The base is to be made of ceramic and fired to create the two-toned finish while everything else (the shade, light puck, and bottom base plug) can still be taken apart to be packed in a very compact sense.
