This lighting project explores light as a medium shaped by time, material memory, and accumulated experience. Using wood cross-sections as active light filters, the lamp highlights tree rings as a record of growth, endurance, and recovery. Each ring reflects years of changing conditions, moments of stress, and gradual healing, allowing light to pass through material shaped by time rather than perfection.

Developed as a series of three types – a small table lamp, a larger freestanding lamp, and a medium-sized wall-mounted version – the project applies a consistent design language across different scales and spatial contexts. The selection and making process is essential: wood is carefully chosen with attention to growth patterns, thickness, moisture content, density, and oil content, emphasizing that no two pieces respond to light in the same way. By combining traditional woodworking with contemporary techniques such as 3D printing, the project becomes both functional and reflective. In the context of Berlin, it speaks to individuals navigating uncertainty and sustained effort, offering a quiet affirmation that steady growth, patience, and continuity can lead to resilience—transforming light into a symbol of persistence, stability, and forward movement.

Seonkyu OH (Morgun) is a Berlin-based product and lighting designer currently studying at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin). Their practice has been shaped by formative experiences engaging with natural environments in Australia and by over a year of designing and fabricating their own work while working under a Japanese joinery designer. They explore the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary production through wood, 3D printing, and mixed materials. With a focus on lighting as a medium, their work investigates how material variation, structure, and making processes shape atmosphere and sensory experience, reflecting an ongoing interest in material narratives, imperfection, and experimentation.

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