My projects typically start with an unadorned spot on a wall or the corner of a room. After deciding on a form, it is time to start selecting materials. There are so many materials out there it can be hard to narrow down what to use, but I’ve found it helpful to start with two broad categories; the Physical Constraints and the Creative Choices.

The Physical Constraints

Workability

It does not matter how fitting a material is for your project in any other way discussed below. If you don’t have the tools to work it, pick another. Even though concrete has great texture, don’t plan to incorporate it if you don’t have the tools to make a mold or mix the powder and water.

Strength/Durability

Your work must be able to hold up under its own weight. This may sound obvious, but I started off doing digital sculpting and struggled designing things that could balance in real life. If you’ve already picked a weaker material for an artistic reason, this means you’ll need additional materials to build a support structure.

Other things to consider: will your work be in wet area? Stay away from woods. Will there be any heat generating parts inside? Pick something less flammable.

The Creative Choices

Material Types

Acrylic

Acrylic is perfect for lighting and come in an abundance of colors, textures, opacities, and dimensions. In addition to manipulation with woodworking tools, acrylic lends itself to shaping through heat. Acrylic does have a major downside; crazing. When snapped after scoring, micro-cracks occur on the break; physical and temperature stress cause these cracks to become longer and larger resulting in a brittle object. If possible, laser cut acrylic.

Wood

Wood is easy to source, easy to work with, and comes in a great variety of colors, textures, degrees hardness, and thickness. I prefer to work with wood for its texture, as the organic flow of the grain contrasts nicely with my often industrial design.

Metal

More limited than wood in color is metal. It can be modified through chemical processes for some unique looks. It is possible to build larger with less weight due to the strength of sheet metal, but requires more specialized tools like plasma cutters and welding equipment.

Light Qualities

Reflectivity

This quality determines the ability to bounce light from a source, off the material surface, and back to you eye.

Specularity

This quality of light is similar to reflectivity, but refers to the sharpness of the reflected light. For most materials, this can be manipulated with matte, satin, or gloss clear coats.

Transmission

This quality refers to how well a light source can be seen through a material. A fully solid material is opaque, while a pair of glasses are transparent.

Diffusion

Diffusion is to transmission as specularity is to reflectivity. Diffusion is how a light source is softened when seen through a material.

Closing Thoughts

By keeping the five qualities of light in mind while selecting materials by your physical constraints and creative choices, it is possible to build a lightform with a more unified design.