Against the grain: Lighting installation takes inspiration from rice fields

Ten-millimetre-wide perforated cylinders, perched on top of slim carbon fibre tubes, fill with golden LED light to simulate the appearance of long-stemmed rice in paddy fields. Motion-detection sensors, embedded at the base, pull the tips towards passing viewers.

INAHO, which means ‘ear of rice’ in Japanese, won first place in the Lexus Design Awards and was presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month. The designers say their lighting landscape would suit an interior entrance or corridor: ‘By extracting the characteristics from an ear of rice and representing them with minimal elements, we approached a product that possesses novelty and nature-orientated familiarity’. 

Yoshimoto and Ono join a group of design practitioners creating sensual, mobile interior products informed by the natural world. 

For more on responsive design and architecture inspired by nature, see our Kinetic Nature design direction.