The idea for this lamp came from pieces of veneer I had at my house. A while back I was walking next to a veneer factory, when I saw a large amount of leftover veneer that was about to be thrown away, and decided to take it.

The veneer was just sitting my house taking space, and I was going to throw it away, when I noticed how flexible veneer strips are. I took time to think, what can it be used for. I experimented with gluing veneer strips and after some sketches (which I sadly didn’t keep) focusing mainly on form, I realized it could be used to create a beautiful light fixture. After playing a bit with the proportions of the strip length to the cube sizes, I arrived at the final result.

Materials:

Enough veneer to produce 24, 1” x 16” strips

One or more square wood planks, large enough to cut down to 6 cubes 2” x 1” x 1”

Paint

Light bulb socket, electrical cord, plug

Light bulb

Tools:
Xacto knife, ruler, saw, drill, cup drill bit, wood glue, clamps, sanding papers, spacers

Step 1: Preparing the Veneer Strips

The strips used for the lamp are composed of 2 veneer strips glued back to back. To glue the strips together, apply wood glue to each veneer strip and clamp them together between two wooden boards. After the glue dries, cut the veneer strips. The double sided veneer is vital for the structural integrity of the fixture. Two plies are enough to give the required strength while allowing flexibility.

Step 2: Preparing the Wooden Cubes

Take the wooden profiles and cut to 6 equal pieces. on each cube paint the inwards facing, and the outwards facing sides in a color of your choice. (I chose black)