Ken’ichi wrote me the other day, asking about the Knappa Klöver lamp from IKEA: Do you know the lamp sold in Ikea called Knappa Klöver? I am more interested in the floor lamp version. I have attached a pic of this lamp, and I was wondering if you know how one comes about in making it? So I sat down and thought about it a bit, and came up with a solution. Here’s my reply: I haven’t seen this lamp in IKEA- I try to avoid going to the local IKEA and wandering through the lamp area, because I want to buy them all… but looking at the picture, I can make some guesses at how it is made. If you look at the attached image, I traced over some of the shapes on the lamp: the basic structure is an icosahedron (nice info here: http://www.miracerros.com/artwork/g_sphere_layout.htm) So, since the basic structure is an icosahedron, that means that each vertex of the icosahedron has five lines meeting together. This means the lamp is made up completely …

Try to keep in mind what is really important and not just what is most pressing. Some critical things to remember, these days. Thanks for the good words, my friend.

I’ve been busy with some projects the last few weeks, and have really been out of touch with what’s happening lately. But I was very pleased to hear this morning from Philip that Joel Cooper has a blog! It’s great to see him have more of a web presence, as I see a pretty constant smattering of hits from people looking for him and his work- now there’s somewhere more concrete for them to see. (You’d think people could track down his contact info via Flickr, but somehow that rarely seems to happen- go figure.) So congrats on the new undertaking, Joel, I’m looking forward to seeing new things from you! And I heartily encourage anyone else who is folding on a regular basis to consider starting a website/blog/etc to have a “home” for your web presence- it helps to connect people to you, and gives others a centralized starting point to refer to. This is a big plus, and very helpful for folks who want to find your work. Good all around!