Flippo is foldable lamp. It is not only foldable but also portable. It is made of felt and thin plastic without any hinges. By changing existing the folding lamp of heavy hard ware, tools and hinges into soft goods with folds, it is safer and easier to carry with. It is only 3*6 inches when it folds and 8 inches tall when it stands up. Applying fabric to thin plastic like a paper creates a feeling of warmth, comfort and sensitivity. Origami, the concept of folding, has been a familiar tradition for us.

The problem that I found is small space to put big and heavy lamp on the table and the dark environment to read the book such as a café and public space. And then it is for portable lamp to put in bag, pocket and carry out. A folding lamp creates a self-supporting structure and resolves the storage problem. I tried to improve sensitivity into hard appliance, so I researched materials and folding system. I recalled our childhood that girls could fall asleep with her fleecy teddy bears, but boys could not fall asleep his unsafe robots. I concluded that by applying this idea to hard goods appliance, it would be more familiar and touchable hard goods. Moreover, applying concept of origami that is familiar to us and our childhood as well, amplify more sensitivity and warmth feeling that we would pursuit to express.

The point that I want to show is not only the concept of origami but also the materials, soft goods. This lamp is for carrying out as well so I approach a topic from emotional though touchable. The spaces we live in are filled with objects. As we live among objects, we invest them with significance and meanings, and in so doing, we derive emotional responses from them. In general, our emotional responses to material, texture and function divide objects into hard goods and soft goods. Usually in close physical proximity to people, soft goods provide warmth and sentimental value.

I began with a child holding a teddy bear. In making such emotional product, the most important thing will be the texture. First I thought of a wonderful textured hide but soon changed to the felt, reminded of the teddy bear image; the idea of a child is the origami method. Origami is not simply an emotional problem but a production method from 2D paper folded into a 3D object, which took some time to apply to the lamp. When unfolded, it becomes a very thin structure, which made it tricky to insert a battery but with a small sized 12V battery, LED strips can easily light up the space for long. This didn't bother the thickness, and therefore, by putting the battery from the bottom, the weight center moves down to the bottom and help balancing it as well in folding the lamp.

This product is providing something different in methods these days, when all the furniture is so refined and seeks convenience. I've researched a lot in order to make the product emotionally appealing visually and in texture but an emotional product. Since I began with the emotion, I chose a lamp that can give warmth as well. As with more tablet PCs these days, more and more people don't even read the paper books. Using the analog emotion, I wished the old fashioned way of reading scenes with a lamplight wouldn't disappear from the world.