Sharpening a pencil never stops to be a fun activity. There is something strangely fascinating in watching pencil shavings coming out of the sharpener and creating all sorts of intriguing shapes. This is exactly what inspired Japanese designer Nanako Kume for her series of cool lamps called Sharpener.
These lamps have their shades made out of giant pencil shavings. For real. Kume crafts giant pencils and then uses a giant sharpener to get the shavings. As you can imagine, the results are quite impressive.
According to Kume, she was fascinated “by the shape and fleetingness” of pencil shavings since childhood. When she got older and started her career as a designer, she wanted to incorporate those shapes and fleetingness in her works.
“I thought that by increasing the size and thickness of what must be discarded as waste, it would be possible to create new products while maintaining the beauty of the shape,” she explained.
Kume’s lamps are currently in the experimental phase, but that won’t be the case for too long. After getting much attention on the internet and from festivals, the designer intends to make them available for purchase soon. Until then, check out some of her designs below.
