For their first project, designers Michaela and Axel Kresse created a “Minimalistic design and high-tech, combined with responsiveness for the environment, this is UpcyLamps.” In a Kickstarter campaign, the Mauloff, Germany-based duo, are asking for help to make their UpcyDesigns a household name. The project utilizes Dibond aluminum composite scrap material and repurposes it into a unique lighting system.

While our blog has focused on Dibond lighting systems in the past, this is the first project that reuses Dibond waste material into recycled lamps.

The designers state, “We think that everybody should save energy and avoid waste as much as possible. The body of each UpcyLamp was originally a piece of waste, a remnant of a production process where large Dibond plates was being cut. This material can be recycled, upcycling however is much more efficient and energy saving. Since the original material stays as it is, with a new determination.”



Our high-tech aluminum composite material Dibond originated in Germany and although widely used in an array of signage, interior and retail applications, the material has gained significant traction with designers in the furniture market.

The design duo at UpcyDesign praised Dibond on its “ultra slim but very stable” composition, which allowed the material to be morphed and contorted into the origami-shaped lamps they created. The designers further state that, “…the illumination unit of the UpcyLamps is completely integrated into the material. This is only possible with the newest available Chip-on-Board LED technology (COB LED).”

Although hand crafted prototypes of the Dibond lamps have been created, the Kickstarter campaign will allow the designers to build the real product for consumers. Check out their Kickstarter Campaign.

all information and photography courtesy of UpcyDesign © Michaela and Axel Kresse