Kumulus Plafond

DESIGNER

PETER NILSSON

The story behind Kumulus. When I went to Rome with the Department of Art History at Lunds Universitet, I was impressed by the architecture of the eternal city. I loved walking along the small streets and alleys all by myself when, all of a sudden, around a corner a whole new scene would unfold right in front of my eyes. Such a scene could be a square or just a widening in the street. The houses were the background, people posed as actors and in the middle there was almost always an obelisk, a statue , or a fountain as a natural center-piece.
I have devoted my time to observing how people move about in public spaces in Sweden. As far as today´s rigid designs are concerned, I cannot help but think that they have gone a bit too far. The blonde Scandinavian stereotype has in some cases fallen victim to banality. Minimal environments are not created for people to live in but to look good in pictures. Public and sometimes even private spaces have become anonymous highways where people walk pressed along the walls. I wanted to set a sign made of glass that would attract people to step into the center of space and action.
With later studies design at Växjö University, I was assigned to draw an object whose structure was not based on any geometrical shape. My suggestion was a centerpiece for public and private environments. I intended to create a jumble of glass without clear lines that would sit in the center of a room like a cloud. It seemed most sensible to use techniques that were based om the more playful American and Italian styles. I chose to make my prototype at a small class studio in Norway. In the end I decided to put halogen light in it because it creates a beautiful shimmer though the glass pieces.
The design was shown at the summer exhibition of Svenssons Möbler in Lammhult in 2000. It´s where I met the people from Bsweden Belysningsbolaget who were interested in manufacturing and selling Kumulus. That is what I finally named my little glass cloud after all.