CarbonShack Lighting Series

May 4, 2023

The CarbonShack Lighting series brings a green ethos into the home through a beautiful and approachable biophilic decor choice. The new series — the Q1 Featured Product Line from CarbonShack – not only celebrates the ethereal beauty of fungi, plankton and algae, but it  literally shines a light on elements that play a major role in our green evolution. 

Today, there is a newfound respect for and creativity around life’s smallest building blocks. Materials like fungi, algae and lichen are used to make and/or inspire everyday objects, from fashion to interiors. The first “mushroom leather” was developed in 2012, and vegan fashionistas were the first to recognize its burgeoning potential. In 2021, Hermes debuted its Victoria Bag, featuring a leather-like product created from just one part of the mushroom — mycelia, the fungi’s underground network of fibrous tendrils that break down organic matter, sequestering carbon in the process. 

With sustainability at the center of what it does, CarbonShack Design is fusing the biophilia design trend with people’s desire to have sustainably sourced, locally fabricated home furnishings. Culling inspiration from mycelium, algae and lichen, “the new biomaterials,” CarbonShack has created a lighting collection celebrating the intrinsically beautiful patterns of nature and the crucial role they play.

CarbonShack’s Mycelium Lamp Series includes a floor lamp, flush mount and sconce. The layered wood-veneer interpretation of these dynamic natural structures makes visible the ordinarily unseen lattice, bringing into the space of the home not only a unique visual representation of their organic beauty, but also reminders of our role in environmental stewardship and of how design choices matter. 

While algae, which includes phytoplankton, has received a lot of notice as the green alternative to fossil fuel, it is also being tested as an air purifier, a print medium and a food resource, among other things. It is a busy multitasking green resource. CarbonShack has chosen to represent the microalgae diatom as a sconce with four variations of the geometrically precise Diatom fixture — Arachis, Discus, Ellipse and Oval.    

Lichen, a symbiosis of fungi and algae, also absorbs carbon and produces photosynthesis. Californians in particular should be proud to learn that there are more than 1,500 species within the state. CarbonShack has chosen to create pendants of the trumpet-like, California native Cladonia, which the suggests a hopeful, uplifting future.

CarbonShack’s Sustainable Production Process

For the CarbonShack lighting series, 3D technology has been used to print onto biodegradable 2-nylon-6 white nylon shades. In its raw state, the 3D printed nylon has a transparency and materiality that closely mimics natural calcium structures, like bone and shell. The lamps use LED illumination and bases that are available in a variety of finishes, including wood veneers, bronze and other plated metals, as well as 3D printed nylon. l. The lamps are made in the U.S.