You Probably Already Know Laurids Gall\u00e9e<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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His shapeshifting lighting designs have made him a hit online, but for the Rotterdam-based designer, it\u2019s all about the IRL experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
If you\u2019ve got an algorithm that is any way skewed towards design and homeware, chances are, you\u2019ll have already seen Laurids Gall\u00e9e\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
The Rotterdam-based designer, who was born in Austria and studied at the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven, has become known for his captivating work with light.<\/p>\n
To share that work with the world, he regularly uploads simple, raw iPhone footage of himself moving around his lamps to Instagram, showing their shapeshifting nature. No over-edited reels, no fuss.<\/p>\n
Growing up surrounded by artists, making things was just part of daily life for Gallee. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a big interest at first, but later I realised creativity was the only path that truly made sense to me.\u201d That quiet inevitability has carried through to how he works today \u2013 deliberate, unhurried, and totally absorbed in the material in front of him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Right now, that material is mostly resin. Galle\u00e9 has spent years working out how to use it as a vehicle for light rather than just a vessel, controlling reflections, refractions, opacity, and transparency until the lamp becomes something closer to a sculpture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way, I\u2019m sculpting light, with resin acting as its body,\u201d he explains. The result is work that never quite sits still. Move around a piece, and it reads differently. Change the light in the room, and it shifts again. There\u2019s no fixed version of it.<\/p>\n
Resin isn\u2019t the only material Galle\u00e9 works with, though it\u2019s the one that\u2019s made his name. His broader interest is in production itself \u2013 craft, applied arts, industrial machinery. \u201cI guess the best way to understand something is through practice,\u201d he says, \u201cand that curiosity naturally pushes me to explore new skills.\u201d There\u2019s no such thing as a shortcut in his process, which is part of why the work feels so considered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That hands-on approach also speaks to a wider shift in how other designers are operating today. The one-off, collectible space has expanded significantly over the past decade, and Gall\u00e9e has a clear read on why.<\/p>\n
Production knowledge is more accessible now, he argues, and the internet has changed who designers actually need to talk to. \u201cDesigners can now reach audiences directly,\u201d he says, \u201cmaking it possible to produce independent work that wants to live outside of industrial production.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gallery model, the limited edition, the direct Instagram sale \u2013 these aren\u2019t seen as compromises anymore. For a lot of designers, they\u2019re the whole point. Whether that model, and its reliance on self-promotion, creates its own traps is another question.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI would love to see a lot more daring work from established designers. It does get boring sometimes.\u201d \u2013 Laurids Gall\u00e9e <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Galle\u00e9 is sceptical of the idea of fame in the design world, at least in any meaningful sense, but he\u2019s not naive about the commercial pressures that come with running a studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuccessful designers often need to stick to what works or has worked,\u201d he says. The problem, as he sees it, isn\u2019t that designers develop a signature, it\u2019s that so few of them seem willing to risk it once they have one. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would love to see a lot more daring work from established designers,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt does get boring sometimes.\u201d Coming from someone whose entire practice is built on unpredictability, it\u2019s a fair point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n