If you€™ve had that lightbulb moment while isolating, now's the time to make it real. LAMP founders Nicole Fox and Annika Siemsen have partnered with Design Milk to create the virtual LAMP 2020 competition€”they€™re lighting a fire (pun very intended) under local and international designers. €œIt's great to have a project to work on with some kind of goal in mind,€ says Siemsen. 

LAMP is based in Vancouver, and was founded by Fox and Siemsen in 2013. There are three categories: €œStudent€ (for entrants enrolled in a post-secondary design or art program), €œProfessional€ (For designs, sketches, renderings or prototypes that are not mass produced), and €œManufactured€ (For produced, functioning light fixtures or prototypes, currently being manufactured). The 2020 competition will be judged by esteemed industry professionals Sabine Marcelis, Lee Broom, and Stephen Burks.

Co-founder Fox notes that while the in-person event was always the part of LAMP they most looked forward to, the online competition is a new€”and exciting€”opportunity for designers. €œMany of our international submitters would actually fly out for the event, which was all at their own expense,€ says Fox. €œJust shipping a light internationally can go up into the thousands, depending on the scale or size.€ there'sno flights or shipping required for the virtual event, so the competition is more accessible to designers. €œFrom an expense perspective, It's actually better for them,€ says Fox.

The criteria for submission has also changed to reflect the challenging times we're living in. In the past, a working prototype was required for submission in the €œProfessional€ category. That's not the case anymore. €œThey just need to be able to have a design ready,€ says Siemsen.

Submissions are open now, and the deadline for entries is October 16. The founders hope that with most cost barriers removed, designers from all over will be inspired and able to submit their creations. €œDesigners can benefit quite a bit from having large exposure with less investment,€ says Siemsen. And in the end, of course, It's about bringing people together. €œOne of the really nice things features about the event is designers building their own community€”they made some really lovely connections,€ says Fox. €œThat€”and finding a way to maintain that camaraderie among your fellow peers€”is more what we are trying to curate.€

For more information on how to enter, visit their website at lampthecompetition.com.

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, illustrator and comic artist. Her work has been featured in Vancouver magazine, Western Living, BCBusiness, Avenue, Serviette, Geist, BCLiving, Nuvo, Montecristo, The Georgia Straight and more. Her beats are food, travel, arts and culture, style, interior design and anything dog-related. She publishes a daily autobiographical comic on Instagram at @hialyssacomics.