‘strip-tease’ by arnaud lapierre from france, is a lamp made from a steel frame that is wound with electrical cable, 2008 image © designboom

one of the other main venues at the cité du design site in saint-étienne was manufacture bâtiment H where the ‘flight number ten’ exhibition was held. on show here was a celebration of design from the last ten years, as well as recent work by designers and design agencies from europe and abroad. one of the exhibition’s sub-sections was ‘designers’ europe’ where there was a display of lighting designs.

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘binbin collection’ made of glass beads by dominique pétot from senegal, 2007-2008 image © designboom

‘binbin collection’ was originally designed as part of a droog workshop that was run in dakar, senegal in the spring of 2007. for the design, dominique pétot drew inspiration from beaded belts called ‘binbin’, that are worn by the women of senegal. working with craftspeople who specialize in making the belts, he created the smallest lampshade he could, producing intricately patterned, beaded designs which rest lightly over a lightbulb.

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' detail of the bead work image © designboom

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘blue frame’ by alexandra audry and bertrand voiron from france, 2008 image © designboom

‘blue frame’ is made from aluminium, glass and marble and looks like a silhouette of a television.

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘dodeca’ by d’alesia & santoro from italy, 2007 ‘dodeca’ was a shortlisted entry in the designboom competition bright LED image © designboom

‘dodeca’ is a task lamp for high precision functions. made from aluminium, ABS and powerleds, the light can illuminate an area of about 15 cm diameter with an average amount of 12’000 lx at 5500°k, thus dissolving every shadow caused by a user’s hands and tools. the head is the heat sink and has a magnifying lens of 2X, 4X. it is best used for quality control, microelectronics, high-quality horology, jewelry, dentistry and microrestorations.

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' the magnifying glass which is built into the head of the light image © designboom

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘lustridée’ by agence pêpin le malin from france, is made from MMA and looks like a speech bubble image © designboom

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘bannerina’ by katarzyna okinczyc from poland, 2007 katarzyna okinczyc participated in our designboom mart stockholm 2008 and designboom mart ICFF new york 2008 image © designboom

this light is made from recycled pvc advertising banner mesh. the form of the light is a result of experimenting with outdoor advertising material that is found on façades in urban areas. the design transforms the life of a discarded material into a product that raises awareness of the issue of recycling.

saint etienne biennale 08: lighting design at 'flight number ten' ‘gra’ss’ by cataline forteza from spain, 2007 image © designboom

this lighting design uses natural and artificial grass, optical fibers and lights to create a turf that looks like it has pieces of illuminated grass.

more saint-étienne international design biennale: http://biennalesaint-etienne.citedudesign.com cité du design: http://www.citedudesign.com