Guillermo Lean’s Spinel is a collapsible pendant light made of plywood

The shrinking size of households often means less scope for elaborate decor and lighting. In the face of this challenge, compact and multi-functional products are preferred over large, gaudy objects in indoor spaces. Spinel is one such product that satisfies multiple extant concerns. It uses minimum raw materials, is long-lasting, can easily be recycled and can be folded into a compact flat form that is easy to carry and store. Created by Guillermo Cameron Mac Lean for the Spanish brand, Estepa, Spinel or Espinel is made out of a single sheet of plywood.

Estepa is a lighting brand based in Spain. With a special focus on sustainability, it produces innovative high-quality products that derive inspiration from nature and are manufactured in materials that can ultimately end up in the ground and as part of the ecosystem. Their recent collaboration with Spanish architect and furniture designer, Guillermo Cameron Mac Lean, is also a step in this direction.

While sustainability is often singularly assessed on the basis of materials being used and the methods being employed to sculpt out objects, often, the usage of minimal materials in a product also ascertains reduced wastage. Spinel, chiselled out from a sheet of plywood, not only uses less material but also occupies reduced space when folded and packaged. It is a collapsible pendant light fixture that can be transported with ease, assembled without the usage of tools and stored in almost any narrow space.

Designed to be produced in several shapes and sizes, Spinel is a flexible fixture that does not bear the risk of breaking easily, an attribute that helps it last long. The assembled version of the pendant light can be hung from the centre of what was previously the centre of the plywood sheet. The same opening is also used to secure the electric cord that lights up the bulb below it. The packaged product, on the other hand, accommodates the plywood lamp, its cord and holder as well as a handle to easily carry the flatly packaged lamp with ease. Although simple in appearance and design, Spinel stands out for its latent attributes that fulfil the demands of eco-conscious and minimalistic aesthetics.