FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Blocks Lamps: Modular Lighting Inspired by Cityscapes and Personal Narratives Receives Prestigious Recognition

Rio Jiunyu Chen's Blocks Lamps collection has received the Iron A' Design Award in the Lighting Products and Fixtures category for 2025, celebrating its unique blend of architectural inspiration and emotional storytelling. Drawing from the forms of libraries, towers, townhouses, inverted pyramids, and arenas, the modular table lamps reinterpret familiar urban structures as sculptural lighting pieces. The collection debuted at the Stockholm Furniture Fair Greenhouse Exhibition 2025, where it captivated audiences with its dynamic interplay of light, shadow, and texture.

Each lamp in the Blocks series combines minimalist geometry with tactile surfaces, reflecting Chen's experience of relocation between Taiwan, Chicago, and New York. The design explores the tension between permanence and transience, using wood grain textures-transferred from Chen's printmaking technique onto mulberry paper lamp shades-to evoke the passage of time and the accumulation of memory. When grouped together, the lamps resemble a city block, creating a modular cityscape that blurs the boundaries between lighting, furniture, and architecture.

Produced from white oak, steel, and mulberry paper, the collection includes five distinct forms: Tower, Library, Pyramid, Arena, and House. Each piece is designed to function both individually and as part of a larger ensemble, encouraging users to interact with and reconfigure their environment. The project is rooted in design-driven research, examining how movement, modularity, and material memory shape emotional connections to objects and spaces. Blocks Lamps not only illuminate interiors but also invite reflection on the meaning of place, belonging, and the stories embedded in everyday forms.

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