Photos of Tom Rossau Making an ST 903 Lamp
Danish designer Tom Rossau has sent us some photos of him making one of his ST 903 lamps.
Tom works mainly with natural wood veneers to create his contemporary sculptural lamps.
All of his pieces are handbuilt in Denmark.
Visit Tom Rossau’s website – here.
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Zero34 on 13 Jan 2010 at 11:08 am #
VERY interesting to see just how easy it would be to build my own instead of paying an insane amount of money for one.
Jeff R. on 13 Jan 2010 at 12:19 pm #
Everyone thinks they can just make it themselves, but they never will.
Ed klein on 13 Jan 2010 at 1:13 pm #
It might LOOK easy but that’s also the skill of the designer! One might be able to get a close approximation after a few months of part-time work but think of the cost in time!
Zero34 on 13 Jan 2010 at 2:56 pm #
you guys are right, the average person wouldn’t know how and would spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.. a few problems with that though..
1) this set of images shows you a LOT of information that would help TREMENDOUSLY to build the same light.
2) as a woodworker myself, this is already a relatively easy project, made a whole lot easier with this set of pictures.
3) most of his lights start at a price of about 1200 euro, which is about $1750 USD these days. a few days of trial and error from the average person to get something similar and hand built vs $1750 is mighty appealing i’m sure.
None the less, it doesn’t take away from the fact that his work is quite nice, and evidently appealing.
Jeff R. on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:15 pm #
It’s not about knowing how to do it. People are lazy. They will not do it themselves even if they know how to.
I build furniture, and people are always telling me that they could just do it themselves, BUT THEY NEVER DO.
They never ever go and do it themselves.
NEVER EVER.
Even if I gave them instructions on how to do it, they wouldn’t be bothered to do it.
Jorg Bleurgen on 13 Jan 2010 at 3:39 pm #
People can grow their own food too, but they don’t.
99% of people will just buy it from a store.
Ervin on 13 Jan 2010 at 5:34 pm #
Very cool
frombuenosaires on 13 Jan 2010 at 5:54 pm #
Tom is hot..!!
UNI on 13 Jan 2010 at 7:02 pm #
ai chi wa wa! hot lamp right there and so cool to see “the process”. and tom is nice to look at too
F-J on 13 Jan 2010 at 10:46 pm #
What ever happened to “Intellectual Property Rights”.
John Whipple on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:19 am #
I love working in my bare feet! Can’t wait for summer time!
Davidsign on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:54 am #
It seemed really familiar at the first sight. I appreciate Tom’s work, but this is really similar to some of LZF’s lamps. http://www.lzf-lamps.com/pdfs/Onion.pdf
MM on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:59 am #
Really, I very much doubt that people who can afford the price of such a piece would spend the time and effort to go make one themselves. So by showing his process, he’s not cutting off the branch he’s sitting on.
And yes, as a side note, respect Intellectual Property Rights!
(So to you copiers: it won’t turn out as good and it may well burst open in the middle of that fancy dinner party… karma?)
Sam Walden on 14 Jan 2010 at 1:46 am #
@Davidsign,
LZF lamps are not the first to do lamps like this. Why do you assume they were?
I think Tom Rossau’s ST 903 lamp was created before LZF’s Onion Lamp.
Bau Outdoors on 14 Jan 2010 at 1:49 am #
Cool indeed… Like to see how he paints the outer black without any bleed into the centre. Looks like a great studio space too!
Davidsign on 14 Jan 2010 at 3:31 am #
@Sam Walden
I don’t know who was the first. I only said that it looks familiar and I quoted the place where I’ve seen the other product. I really appreciate Tom’s work and love the way he works and if his lamps have been created before LZF’s, he should do something about it. I know LZF for about 3 years because I used some of their products in my works and I especially appreciated the natural veneer lamps.
youhavebeenheresometime on 14 Jan 2010 at 12:11 pm #
awesome! thanks for these great photos!
shelterwerkes on 14 Jan 2010 at 1:55 pm #
Great photo’s and great lamp! Nice to see process. Not so nice to see some of the reactions. We are all designers, right? Why would you steal from a fellow designer, especially one who wants to share his experiences?
Jean-Marie on 14 Jan 2010 at 2:23 pm #
I love it: everybody’s a critic. Where’s your work? Where’s your intellectual property or creative work product that you’re putting out in the world attempting to earn a living from?
Tom had to create the idea, make it desirable, test it, build the jigs by hand, figure out how to cut and assemble it, then repeat the production process over again by hand to make a new one. Why take that away from him? Why doesn’t he deserve a premium price for both the labor and what it took to bring the idea to fruition? What is it with this mentality that he and people like him aren’t deserving of the time and effort they put into the things they create?
Yes, anyone- given enough time, money and effort- could recreate anything that exists in the world. That’s not the point, is it?
Zero34 on 14 Jan 2010 at 4:35 pm #
@jean-marie – yes, everyone’s a critic, especially on a site that showcases stuff. That is the point of a comments section after all isn’t it? to hear/read people’s comments and opinions.
As for copying it, I never said I would copy it, I just said that this showed a LOT of information on HOW to copy it. They’re very nice lamps, and yes, he put in a lot of effort into figuring out his rigs and everything else, which again is why i’m surprised he posted all the pictures. Jeff made a great comment and observation, people talk about doing it themselves then never do it. Maybe that’s why he’s showing this, cause he knows the actual amount of people that would take the time to replicate this is so minor that it won’t have any impact on his sales. To him, i say cudos. He’s braver then I am for doing so.
John Welden on 14 Jan 2010 at 5:09 pm #
Nice job on the lamps, and thanks for the pictures. I love seeing how things are made. I hope you’re making a living at it.
The best designs always look easy.
mermaldad on 15 Jan 2010 at 5:18 am #
Sure, the design could be easily copied. It would take considerable time to build the proper jigs, and make the copy. You’d need to have the equipment and a workspace that’s suitable. For me the payoff just isn’t there, with all the other cool projects I could be doing.
Some people may make their own copy, based on these photos. But they probably could have made a copy just by seeing a photo of a finished ST 903. And they probably aren’t the type of person who would spend thousands of Euros on a Tom Rossau original.
Even if someone uses these photos to set up a business and starts to make ST 903 clones, if Tom is even a bit creative (which he obviously is) he’ll probably have moved on to newer cool designs by then. Meanwhile this website has exposed a few more potential buyers to his work.
So thanks, Tom, for letting us peek inside!
Helena on 15 Jan 2010 at 2:10 pm #
like it! it’s organic, eco and modern
very “up to date”
Morten Skogly on 15 Jan 2010 at 2:45 pm #
Beautiful craftmanship, thanks for sharing. Would love to try it out if I can find a source for the veneer, I guess it must be custom ordered.
As for thieving. Yes there is enough info here to “steal” the design, but to create a lamp that is durable (not to mention sellable), involves a lot of time, work and tools, knowledge of how the veener behaves in different conditions, how to place the armature/lightbulb without burning down your house, etc etc.
And yes, there is a large gap between “can” and “did”.
Singer on 15 Jan 2010 at 9:02 pm #
Craftsmanship is not mental know-how; it is possessing a trained body and sense of material. You can *know* with your mind what steps to follow, but someone who has never stapled through veneer doesn’t have the body-knowledge for how much pressure, what angle etc in order to now split the wood. When you watch a good carpenter, plumber, welder, it might look simple like 1-2-3, but there is years and years of practiced control and tacit, tactile knowledge in what a craftsman or craftswoman does. It’s similar to playing a violin. You could watch a video for where to put your fingers and how to move the bow, but it would take you decades to master a Bach fugue.
Some of the posters’ comments here betray their ignorance and disregard for skilled manual labor. Manual labor requires far more skill than the average computer programmer, accounting, banker, etc, and it’s a skill that only time and practice can give you.
Scott on 16 Jan 2010 at 12:23 am #
It’s a lovely design, thanks for showing us. And Singer is very right in what he/she says.
dhawktx on 17 Jan 2010 at 11:35 am #
I want Tom’s pneumatic stapler. *covet* *covet*
‘course, I’d also like Tom, but I’ll take what I can get!
dhawktx on 17 Jan 2010 at 11:48 am #
Yes, someone could conceivably copy this particular item. Let’s see them create a NEW design using these techniques!
From Tom’s bio:
http://www.tomrossau.dk/
“The design process is actually quite selfish to me. I may be that the end consumer gets his or her need covered by the product, but in all honesty I do for the kick that it gives me. It’s quite a thrill to get an idea out of the blue, to work with it, to get caught up in it, to be totally consumed by the details from the early drawings over prototypes and on to production. Then there’s the magic experience when the material intended to do one prototype suddenly starts misbehaving and reveals unintended characteristics and all there is to do is to dive right in and explore these new possibilities. Inspiration comes from all around, but the determination process of limits and potentials of materials can be so interesting. At times it would be more appropriate to refer to the material as the designer and I the mere help, fetching screws and fastening lose ends…”
LadyDreamgirl on 19 Jan 2010 at 6:50 pm #
As far as IP goes, I doubt that copying a lamp design is legal infringement. There’s a reason that there are fashion and furniture knock offs, it’s legal. Copyright covers art. When an item has function as well as form it doesn’t fall under the legal definition of art in the same way. Now if his process were patented that would be a different question alltogether. One could also claim trade secret protection, but if you’re posting photos of your process on the internet I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as a trade secret.
Funkafied on 22 Jan 2010 at 3:06 am #
LadyDreamgirl is wrong about copyright protection as it applies to furniture and functional objects. You cannot copyright the function of a chair, for example, but you can copyright an original design for a chair. Design is copyrightable, however a design can be altered slightly, and then it is no longer the same design protected by the copyright. It all comes down to enforcement: money and lawyers, and tracking down those who rip off good design. But why copy good design? Good designers are comfortable exploring their own ideas and creativity, which is much more fun and satisfying than looking around to see what’s trendy and then knocking it off.
Thank you Singer, for pointing out the practice, learning and experience required in becoming a skilled craftsperson. Only the masters can make it look easy. That’s the problem with our culture today. Most high schools in the US have gotten rid of their woodshops in favor of computer labs, and so we have droves of people who are never having the opportunity to make anything with their hands, and thus lack the appreciation of what is truly involved in making handmade stuff, and making it well.
For anyone freaked out by the price of $1750 for Tom’s lamp, I would point out first that it is high in part due to the weak value of the dollar vs. the euro, and that most retail venues that sell handmade products like this (including galleries and websites) take a cut of as much as 50% of the retail price. From the remaining 50%, the cost of materials (wood, lamp parts, glue, finish, packaging, etc.) and overhead costs to operate a studio (including marketing expenses) are then subtracted out of that. Whatever remains at that point is what actually goes towards labor involved in making the piece. That is why handmade work costs what it does. It’s not for everyone, but you get what you pay for: high quality, attention to details, and craftsmanship built to last. If you are a hobbyist making a lamp on your own on the weekend, you might be willing to make it for $5/hr, but if you’re trying to make a living at it, you might actually want to make say, what a plumber makes an hour, or a computer programmer, or a stock broker, and why not? There’s just as much skill and experience involved, and even more risk, because it’s self-employment, without the steady paycheck.
bfoese on 22 Jan 2010 at 5:56 pm #
Ever since I stumbled over some marvelous pieces of tom rossau a couple of weeks ago I was wondering if I could craft one for myself. In this regard: Great photos of the process.
Besides the veneer lamps, the desk lamp on his entrance webpage is in a class of its own. The wooden lamp shade is simply stunning.
Fan no 1 on 02 Feb 2010 at 3:26 pm #
Zero34! if you really are a woodworker you KNOW theese prices are anything but insane. Good luck in the workshop; I’m sure coming up with your own design would be much more satisfactory, though!
William on 20 Feb 2010 at 5:00 pm #
AMAZING I have one simlar
raquel on 01 Mar 2010 at 7:17 pm #
This set of photos does make any artist or artis wanna be, take of their shoes and get to work, look as hot and be as creative and succesfull, so that’s prob why all these comments… But the people with the money love this too, having worked in a gallery, i know how rich people love it when they know more about the designer, maybe have talked to him, or maybe seen him work, this kind of stuff just makes it more appealing, and I WOULD by his lamps too…
mathew on 10 May 2010 at 1:26 am #
There is always copyrights. You cant just copy whatever you want what’s designed and manufactured by somebody. At least not for sale, maybe for your own use.
momarm on 24 Aug 2010 at 10:10 pm #
I think the end result is this. Everyone here admires this lamp. It doesn’t need to cost USD1750. That’s 2000 CDN. Seriously.
Compare that to the cost of a Noguchi lamp, or a Nelson bubble lamp – designs that are obvious precedents for the designer’s work – and I have serious pricing issues with this product.
Why does good design always end up in the high-end market? The industry itself needs to more seriously consider value versus price, and focus on affordability for the common individual.
Without doubt; making 1 of these costs $2000. But to make 100 of the same, the price could be $200 once the product setup (tooling) is complete. Designers need to start thinking like manufacturers once did – producing a quality product at excellent value – and stop being so, as the designer calls himself – “selfish.”
Tom Rossau on 27 Oct 2010 at 8:28 am #
How very inspiring to read all these comments!
Just to clarify one little thing, this light retails at app.$700 in Europe including the 25%VAT… The range starts at retail prises around $200 and up.