Every lamp in the Lumerin collection has a story that starts long before it reaches anyone's shelf. Some designs come together in a few weeks. Others take months of iteration before they're right — or get scrapped entirely.
Here's what actually goes into making a lamp, from the first sketch to the version you can buy.
It starts with a feeling, not a shape
The design process doesn't begin with a specific form in mind. It usually starts with a quality of light — a mood, a temperature, a direction. How should this lamp make a room feel? Should the light spread wide and low, or pool upward? Should the shade be geometric and precise, or softer and more organic?
From there, shapes start to emerge. Some are inspired by natural forms — the way light filters through leaves, the geometry of folded paper, the cross-section of a crystal. Some come from pure experimentation with what the material will do. None of them start from a finished picture. They start from a question.
The first print is never right
Once a design is modelled, it gets printed. And the first version is almost always wrong — not catastrophically, but subtly. The proportions look different in physical space than they do on screen. The light distribution isn't what was expected. A seam catches the eye in the wrong place.
Most Lumerin designs go through at least ten printed iterations before anything gets sold. Some have had more. The process is genuinely iterative rather than linear — a change to fix one problem often reveals something else to address. Each print is a test, not a draft.
This is where the engineering background comes in. The instinct is to change one variable at a time: adjust the wall thickness by 0.2mm, print again, hold it up to the bulb in a dark room. See what changed. Repeat until it's right.
The dark room test
Every design gets tested the same way: switched on in a dark room. No daylight. No overhead lights. Just the lamp and the space around it.
This is where you see what a lamp actually does. How it handles the wall behind it. Whether the glow is even or patchy. Whether the base casts an unwanted shadow. Whether the overall effect feels warm and settled or cold and flat. Photos don't capture this accurately — you have to be in the room with it.
If it passes the dark room test, it's close. If it doesn't, it goes back to the model.
Materials and why they were chosen
Lumerin shades are printed from transparent PETG — the same family of plastic used in water bottles and food-safe containers. At the right wall thickness and infill, it has a natural frosted quality that diffuses warm light beautifully. It's also tough, slightly flexible, and can be recycled at suitable recycling centres.
The bases are printed in PLA, a bioplastic made from corn starch. It takes fine detail well, gives a clean matte finish, and biodegrades slowly over time — slowly enough to be durable, but better than a purely petrochemical plastic at end of life.
Neither material was chosen for marketing reasons. They were chosen because they're the right materials for the job — and the environmental properties are a genuine bonus rather than a talking point bolted on afterwards.
When a design gets scrapped
Not every design makes it. Some look good in isolation but don't work with a bulb inside them — the geometry creates odd shadows or uneven hotspots that no amount of iteration fixes. Some pass every test but just don't feel right. A lamp that's technically fine but doesn't make you want to have it in your room isn't worth selling.
There's a folder of designs that will probably never become products. Some of them might get revisited. Most won't. That's part of the process too.
From the printer to your door
Once a design is finalised, lamps are printed to order rather than held in bulk stock. Each one is checked for print quality, light distribution, and finish before being packed. It takes longer than buying from a warehouse. It also means that what arrives is consistent, and nothing sits in storage waiting for a sale that might not come.
Every Lumerin lamp is designed, printed, and assembled in the UK. That's not a claim — it's just where I work.