The lamp designed by Jean Marie Massaud wins the Prize Design for Modern Furniture + Lightingh Award 2024. We asked the designer to tell us how Louise came into being

The Louise lamp, designed for Ramun by Jean Marie Massaud, has been awarded the Prize Design for Modern Furniture + Lighting Award 2024 by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Global Design News. ‘An important recognition, which I am naturally pleased about, but above all the result of a collaboration with a passionate and enthusiastic company,’ the designer emphasises. Selected as representing contemporary design for its sleek, minimalist look and functional features, it will be featured in the New Modern Furniture + Lighting 2024 yearbook, which celebrates the world's most avant-garde designs.

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Louise by Ramun is a small, elegant and versatile rechargeable battery table lamp.

The symbolic value of light

The Ramun Louise lamp is a comforting, friendly, romantic and intimate night light. It creates relationships: on the dining table, as a candle light, it becomes the bond between people. ‘Sharing the magic of a flame was my ambition. Light has a strong symbolic value. In particular, the flame symbolises fervour, knowledge, love and devotion... the wonderful, the magic! I wanted to enhance the magic of the dance of a candle flame. That accompanies us in intimate and extraordinary moments: a romantic dinner, a reading to the edge of the night... I like to try to be as close as possible to the emotion, to design ‘friendly’ objects,’ explains Massaud, who has always designed and designed to reconcile pleasure with responsibility, the individual with the collective.

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Massaud's design is characterised by a constant search for lightness, also interpreted through Ramun Louise.

Extended functions

‘My way of expressing myself always tries to be symbolic and essential. Creating an extra object means taking care to propose a real service and wider and more competent uses. I prefer to speak of extended functions. There is also intelligence in the construction, quality and durability of a product. However, it seems to me that there is no good design without a bit of soul, that je-ne-sais-quoi that makes an emotional connection between the object and its user,' the Ramun Louise designer continues.

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Light has a strong symbolic value. In particular, the flame symbolises fervour, knowledge, love and devotion.

Intimate and cosy atmospheres

Louise by Ramun is a small, elegant and versatile rechargeable battery-operated table lamp. Its main feature is the light source, optimised to preserve eye health, with 20 levels of illumination available, which can be static or vibrating, recreating the movement of a candle flame and thus evoking cosy atmospheres.

04_Louise sketch
A preparatory sketch by Massaud for Ramun Louise.

In search of lightness

Massaud's design is characterised by a constant search for lightness, also interpreted through Ramun Louise: ‘Lightness is in the poetics: a levitating flame in a crystal dress. Lightness is in the uses: a portable lamp, free of all constraints,’ continues the French designer, for whom design always starts from a context, which may be broad or narrow, and then there are the cardinal principles: cultural, ecological or economic. Sometimes the principles can be in opposition to each other. But when a principle is identified, then creating an elegant design simply means finding an easy solution that synthesises all this in a creative way.

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The lantern-like design is characterised by a tubular shade made of Stainedpla, a pleated garment that delicately envelops the light source, complemented at the top by a thin ring that makes it easier to grip the object.

Attention to detail

Ramun Louise's lantern-shaped design is characterised by a tubular shade made of Stainedpla material, a pleated garment that delicately envelops the light source, complemented at the top by a thin ring that makes it easier to grip the object. The attention to detail is emphasised by the engraving of Massaud's words in French: ‘La vie est une aventure faite de rencontres comme autant de lumiéres’ (‘Life is an adventure made up of encounters like so many lights’).

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Ramun Louise enhances the magic of the dance of a candle flame that accompanies intimate and extraordinary moments such as a reading to the edge of the night.

The quest for harmony

The search for harmony can be read in Louise's versatility, which is revealed by the addition of melodies that amplify the object's charm: in addition to its function as a lamp, Louise can play ten different pieces by Bizet, Bach, Chopin, Schubert, as well as the famous ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Silent Night’. For this reason, the Ramun lamp is suitable for moments of meditation, yoga, pilates, as well as being an excellent gift.

07_Ramun | Table lamp LOUISE – Jean Marie Massaud_Photo Credits P Monetta_04
The main feature of the lamp is the light source, optimised to preserve eye health, with 20 lighting levels available, which can be static or vibrating.

Third step of Ramun's 7 Stars Project

Louise, designed by Jean-Marie Massaud in collaboration with Alessandro Mendini, represents (after Bella by Marcel Wanders and Campanello by Alessandro Mendini) the third step in Ramum's 7 Stars Project. Founded under the creative direction of Alessandro Mendini, Ramun is a high-end lighting brand that presents timeless masterpieces. The brand was born out of a conversation between Alessandro Mendini and his nephew and the common passion they shared for the theme of light. In fact, the lamps were originally created by the Italian designer for his own family, in particular his grandson, as a wish for good luck and visual health. Mendini oversaw the entire process and created a timeless masterpiece.

Photo: P. Monetta

#Design #Furniture #Lighting #Storie 2024
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