Polycycle Illumination

Xuanhao Li
An award-winning computational textile designer, crafting meaningful elegance.

About Me

Selected Works

PROJECT
ROLE
YEAR
ADVISOR
CREDITS

AWARDS







EXHIBITION

Polycycle Illumination
Designer, Artisan
2024
HyunJoo Oh, Lisa Marks, Yaling Liu
CoDe Craft group, GVU Prototyping Lab, GVU Craft Lab

Red Dot Design Award | Red Dot
Core77 Design Awards | Winner ↗
NYCxDESIGN Awards | Winner ↗
DNA Paris Design Awards | Winner ↗
NY Product Design Awards | Glod
K-Design Award | Winner↗
Muse Design Awards | Gold

Red Dot Design Museum, Singapore

From Hazards to Elegance:

Polycycle Illumination is a collection of table lamps crafted from upcycled Polyethylene (PE) plastic film packaging, dedicated to promoting a safer ocean for marine life.

Annually, approximately 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used globally, with an estimated 1% to 3% of them eventually entering the ocean. Due to their translucent film texture, discarded plastic film drifting in the ocean resemble jellyfish, deceiving sea turtles and other marine animals into ingesting them. This ingestion can result in blockages, digestive issues, and death among marine animals.

The design process of Polycycle Illumination began with the research question: how can digital fabrication methods be incorporated to process discarded plastic films and transform them into functional and aesthetically pleasing products with stable standards and durable quality?

Upcycling & Fabrication:

The modeling process is parametric design-based, with original algorithms programmed to generate jellyfish-shaped lampshades, composed of flattenable and interlocked knitted stitch-shaped units.

The material preparing process involves cleaning the collected plastic film waste to remove dirt and tags, then using a heat-pressing machine to fuse layered plastic films into sheets. The CNC cutting machine is used to cut the generated units out of sheets. Then, the units are hand-assembled into lampshades with craftsmanship.

Material Source:
HDPE Plastic Sleeves Collected from Fabric Shipping

When discussing plastic pollution in the textile industry, people typically think of synthetic fabrics that are difficult to degrade. However, there is another form of plastic pollution in fabric production and transportation: the HDPE plastic sleeves used to package fabric rolls. These HDPE sleeves, due to their transparency, minimal use, lack of color, and widespread availability, are a good starting point for this plastic bag upcycling project.

Sustainable Storytelling Through the Computational Form Design

The jellyfish-inspired silhouette of Polycycle Illumination pays homage to the ocean and serves an educational purpose by reminding people to make mindful consumption of materials and protect marine life from the harmful effects of plastic pollution.

Bio-Inspired Eco Design:

The lamp's jellyfish silhouette symbolizes the design commitment to ocean conservation. Through upcycling, the lifespan of plastic film waste is prolonged, potentially reducing the volume of waste entering the ocean and safeguarding marine life.

By harnessing their thermoplasticity, flexibility, and translucency, Polycycle Illumination saves plastic bags and packaging from ending up in landfills or drifting in the ocean. The discarded plastic film waste that is difficult to process with conventional shredding recycling methods is transformed into decorative accent lamps, illuminating spaces with a charismatic glow out of the bio-inspired computational design silhouette..