IS IT WORTH IT?

“IS IT WORTH IT?” is our contribution to the collective exhibition curated by FAKE/AUTHENTIC for Dropcity during Milan Design Week 2025, named Dis!ntegrate.
It is part of a broader research about alternative fabrication techniques and industrial standards, involving imperfection and randomness.


Time as a precious resource.
In this part of the world, it is taken for granted that objects must be immaculate; industrial perfection is the standard against which every product is measured.
To what extent should an object be refined?

More generally, what does the ubiquitous and obvious adoption of industrial perfection in the objects we purchase imply? What is its cost in environmental, and also aesthetic terms? It employs naive solutions to solve technical issues: it embraces error, imperfect finishing, and the absence of a standard.

We chose to confront light for the complexity of the problems involved and because, more than in other fields, it reflects and enlarges the gap from perfect manufacturing, with optical deformations and aberrations immediately visible.
A lighting fixture -let's temporarily set aside decorative, designer light and all the sculptures emitting some kind of glow- is often a complex and anonymous element at the same time. To function properly, it must solve several issues, including heat management, luminous efficiency, absence of optical aberrations, robustness, cost-effectiveness, aesthetic abstraction, and—very often—a certain prudence in hiding any technical element.

Which comes first: the product or the production process?
One would think it is essential to define what one wants to make before deciding how. However, companies design new products starting from already acquired processes and technologies: production possibilities influence the design, and designers are encouraged to stay within the perimeter of what the company knows how to do best, avoiding choices that imply the development of new processes.

With a simplified view, companies tend to produce flawless products at the lowest cost. The competitive market requires the analysis of many factors, and production choices often fall on safer processes—that is, those that always produce the same results. This optimization inevitably takes certain paths and neglects others. It defines an aesthetic language that has shaped collective tastes.
How good is good enough?
How important is perfect performance?

Reversing the priorities of a project can lead to curious outcomes. We do not intend to propose an alternative solution to the listed problems: we wouldn't be capable. The available technologies are advanced and specialized.

What we would like to do is propose a diversion from the traced path, to explore formal and functional alternatives that can only exist in communion with a certain freedom to make mistakes, to approximate a solution, to embrace a reasonable number of flaws and compromises.

It is also a reflection on our role and the possibility of manufacturing objects in the narrow territory between art and industrial product. The industry remains there.
Does it still need designers?

OORT series is the commercial output of this research: a wide range of lighting devices is available, ask us for more information.
OORT is a project of approximation to industry, challenging the industrial standard and raising the question of its necessity in the domestic context.
OORT is a platform for experiments on light.
It is a leveling down with some advantages.
OORT lowers expectations.