Spanish designer Javier Herrero was inspired by the Wild West to create TIPI, a children’s lamp made from wood and embroidered felt, for manufacturer BUOKIDS.
The Wild West has been and still is an inexhaustible source of stories and adventures, thanks to Hollywood films, above all. Who has not ever dreamt about riding through the prairies like Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves or about dancing around a fire with Sitting Bull?
Painted faces, feathers, horses, buffaloes… This fascinating and inexhaustible iconography, which everyone in the world can recognise, was the one which inspired Javier Herrero to create this collection of children’s lamps based on tipis so that children can keep on dreaming and playing…
Like the original tipis, which are in perfect harmony between the Man and Nature, this simple lamp is also completely made of natural materials and traditional processes. Firstly, we have a base and a tripod both made of solid beechwood. These are turned by local craftspeople one by one. Afterwards, these pieces are treated with natural oils to grant a better maintenance.
The screen is made of 100% wool felt produced in Spain. It is an ecru felt which has a warm and soft texture. An embroidered work is developed over it, which is made with cotton thread in various colours, what fosters the quality sensation and the value of hand-made objects.
The delicate embroidered work with both children’s and elegant graphics should be highlighted. They are obviously inspired by the Indian motifs although they are simplified and updated in order to achieve a visual language which is both fresh and up-to-date. It was very important that the final result was not rustic but contemporary. Moreover, the different colour range makes the TIPI adaptable to any child’s environment. It has blue, pink, red and yellow shades, a wide variety which grants its polyvalency.
The TIPI is a clear example of the importance of choosing the materials suitably when developing a project. Each texture and colour is important and it seems evident that in this case it has been a right choice, since we can see how all of them contribute and communicate the same concept: respect for nature and craftsmanship.
Photography by Tato Baeza
