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2017 / Home Interior Products / Lighting / Student

Elevate swivel lid tea light holder

  • Company
    Savannah College of Art and Design, United States
  • Lead Designer
    Christian Mckenzie
  • Project Link
  • University
    Savannah College of Art and Design
The objective of this project was to create a
simple contemporary design that takes the
ordinary to the extraordinary. The first hurdle is
always narrowing down the ideas. While
searching for that one idea there was warning
of a power outages in the area. This prompted
my roommate to purchase tealights. Most
products that hold candles are decorative, I
was curious about it as a more utilitarian
object. could it possible serve it's purpose
better while maintaining it's aesthetic place;
without becoming a lantern. Tealightscome in a
plastic bag or a small box. through research of
the market began to wonder why none of the of
the tea light holders had storage for additional
candles. I found most tea light holders only
hold a single candle or have multiple openings
to burn more than one candle at one time. I
also found that most of these holders required
that the the entire holder be picked up and
turned over in order to remove the tealight
after it had burnt out. With these things in mind
i began to develop concepts. i began to think
about drawers and boxes various other
compartments. When i remembered a heart
shaped jewelry box that belonged to my
mother. The lid of this heart shaped box did not
lift off, instead it swiveled. How could I solve
the problems of storage, and removal of the
candle and reach my goal of turning this
mundane product into something
extraordinary? I looked to kinetics, A design
that would make the candle more accessible
and provide you with a replacement. I set to
prototype a simple mechanism that would lift
the candle up as the box was opened. The
used can swivel the lid elevating the dead
candle for easy removal which at the same time
exposes fresh candles
Photo Credit: Savannah College Of Art And Design