Flash Light

For creative people in need of a flash of inspiration, Mark McKenna has created the Designer Emulation Kit, a little battery-powered light that mimics three iconic lamps—the Castigliones’ Arco, Richard Sapper’s Tizio, and Ingo Maurer’s Lucellino. For each version a small circuit board is CNC milled to create three stylized parts that the user snaps off a template, fits together, and plugs into a nine-volt battery. “The form has a lot to do with a young designer’s desire to be like his or her heroes,” McKenna says. Having worked for Ingo Maurer and Henry Dreyfuss Associates, he fondly recalls the wisdom of his mentors. “I learned from Maurer that objects are more than just objects—they really have a language unto themselves and don’t have to be purely functional,” he says. With the aid of digital manufacturing, McKenna has transformed a low-tech object with a basic power supply into a glowing beacon of light.