This small table lamp is rooted in aesthetic tangibility. The pattern of ridges and depressions loosely references the septa of a coral skeleton and rewards the sense of touch. The shapes that form the slats of the shade were originally inspired by a decades-old swim fin, but I've abstracted the form beyond any direct reference to its artifact origin. A note on the finish: This lamp shade is wet-sanded with tung oil to an extremely fine grit, a lengthy process that leaves it feeling like something old that has been worn smooth from being handled many times. This technique involves sanding away any film that hardens on the surface during the finishing process, leaving only the oil that has polymerized inside the wood fibers. The end result is that when you touch it, you're touching the wood itself.
