Lamp of many hands

A desk lamp created from recycled wood, wire, rice paper, beeswax, and repurposed crochet doilies. The work explores craft as a cultural archive, preserving stories and knowledge embedded in handmade objects.

Many of the doilies used in this piece were inherited, discovered in flea markets, or given to me by friends who had stored them away in closets—objects they no longer had a use for, yet felt unable to discard because of the care and labor embedded in their making.

The lamp becomes a collaboration with the many hands I never met. Intertwining these inherited fragments with my own crochet webs, I created layered panels of mandala-like geometries that highlight the delicacy and intelligence of the craft. Illuminated from within, the threads reveal material memory: each stitch traces gestures of care, creativity, and survival carried out in everyday life.

By transforming these inherited textiles into a functional lamp, the work bridges craft and contemporary design while emphasizing sustainability through reuse. Lamp of Many Hands reflects on collective authorship and shared cultural memory, suggesting how personal and collective histories can inform more caring and collaborative futures for design.