Disclosure: Japan Nakama stocks the Heliograf Light Soy Portable Lamp. This piece is written for editorial purposes; sales support both Heliograf’s manufacturing process and ocean-bound plastic cleanup.
The surplus of single use plastic found in the ocean is one of the major problems of the modern world. Whether it’s straws, takeout plastic bags, or candy wrappers – single use plastic has been a major concern. Environmental advocates have been promoting the significance of recycling plastic to lessen the negative impact of plastic pollution in our seas. However, that may not be enough.
In recent years, artists and designers have utilised a new form of plastic recycling; using recycled plastic as sustainable design. This means reusing these plastics to create products such as furniture, home decorations, and other kinds of objects that are not just aesthetically pleasing, but also sustainable and beneficial to our environment.
Heliograf, an Australia-based design studio, believes in making positive environmental changes by prioritising design for sustainability. To take a part in saving our planet’s seas, they debuted the Light Soy Portable Lamp – a lamp made out of 75% recycled ocean-bound plastic to inspire others to care for the environment playfully and creatively.
A Call to Action by the Light Soy Portable Lamp
A Soy Sauce Fish Lamp: What’s The Inspiration?
When looking at Heliograf’s product, many thoughts may surface. Why did they design it like a fish lamp with a red cap on top? The lamp’s form takes its cue from Japan’s familiar fish-shaped soy-sauce packets — first produced in 1957 by Asahi Chemical Plastic Co. as a portable alternative to glass and ceramic soy-sauce bottles for bento and takeaway sushi.
Sustainable packaging design of Heliograf’s Light Soy Portable Lamp. Photo Credit: Heliograf
The packets caught on for their convenience, particularly with takeaway sushi. Use them once and dispose of the plastic packets after dispensing the soy sauce onto the food. With thousands of these tiny packets discarded every day, they have become a meaningful contributor to ocean-bound plastic waste.
Because of how small these packets are, they are very difficult to recycle and hard to refill. This is why they mostly end up in landfills and in the water, negatively affecting our marine life. As much as we can refuse to use the packet, it is still being mass produced and added to sushi takeouts. However, we can still make a difference.
Introducing the Light Soy Portable Lamp
Heliograf has provided an avenue for us to raise awareness on plastic waste and support products that recycle ocean-bound plastic through their Light Soy Portable Lamp. They designed this soy sauce lamp with functionality, appeal, and sustainability in mind.
As a lamp, the Light Soy works hard: dimmable LED with touch controls, a rechargeable battery that lasts up to 20 hours, and USB-C fast charging. It’s a practical addition to your space, especially for those who are looking for a reliable lamp to brighten up their homes.
Award-winning design of the Light Soy Portable Lamp. Photo Credit: Heliograf
Beyond practicality, the lamp has obvious shelf appeal — its small fish-shaped form is genuinely charming, which goes a long way toward explaining its award-winning design. Its design embodies the actual soy sauce fish packet very accurately. Therefore, it makes sense why the lamp is an award-winning design. This soy sauce fish lamp has captured the hearts of many Japanese enthusiasts, resembling a small piece of Japan’s food culture.
Along with its functionality and appeal, the advocacy behind the design object is what makes the lamp a valuable product. They made the Light Soy lamp from recycled materials to educate and raise awareness about the negative impact of single-use plastic. Plus, for every lamp sold, a part of the funds pays for 2kg of ocean-bound plastic cleanup.
The Light Soy Portable Lamp helps keep plastic waste out of landfill. Photo Credit: Heliograf
Overall, it’s clear that this beautiful soy sauce fish lamp represents how creativity can meet sustainability and produce design objects that benefit not just the people, but the planet too. It’s a great example of ‘green technology,’ using the power of technology and innovation to reduce human impacts on the environment.
The People Behind The Product
The makers of the lamp, Angus Ware and Jeffrey Simpson, decided to design and create the soy sauce lamp because of their first-hand experience of seeing plastic in the ocean. Living on the coasts of Australia, Angus and Jeffrey witnessed how ocean-bound plastic can ruin marine ecosystems, create microplastics, and pollute our bodies by dirtying our oceans.
The men behind Heliograf’s Light Soy Portable Lamp, Jeffrey Simpson and Angus Ware. Photo Credit: Heliograf
Seeing the negative impact of the soy sauce fish packets, they committed to four years of design and development to create the Light Soy Lamp. Their process involves five steps;
- Collecting – They collect and gather plastic waste from regions with high amounts of ocean-bound plastic pollution.
- Sorting and Cleaning – They sort and clean the collected plastic waste for the next steps of the production process.
- Recycling – Certified recycling organizations help recycle the plastic waste into usable and valuable materials.
- Upcycling – They mould the recyclable material into the design of the lamp and put it into sustainable packaging, ready for purchase.
- Loving and Reusing – Customers purchase and love the product, hoping to encourage environmental awareness and conservation.
- Supporting – The purchased products support the company’s production process of the lamps, as well as fund programs that implement cleanups in areas with the most ocean-bound plastic.
They designed it with their advocacy in mind, highlighting the importance of environmental footprint and the 3 R’s – expanded here to rethink, reuse, and recycle.
Sustainable Light Soy Portable Lamp by Heliograf. Photo Credit: Heliograf
By creating, in the studio’s own words, “playful and inspiring objects with sustainable design at heart”, Heliograf intends to keep the Light Soy Portable Lamp in production as a permanent reminder to take part in conserving our aquatic ecosystem. It is a reminder for everyone to take part in conserving our planet’s waters by reducing plastic waste.
A Call to Action by the Light Soy Portable Lamp
Tackling plastic waste calls for sustained effort across reducing single-use plastic, recycling responsibly and rethinking what gets made in the first place. Heliograf’s position is that waste should be redesigned into objects that bring joy — and that, ideally, never become waste again.
Ready to make a difference? Love the planet and reduce plastic waste with the Light Soy Portable Lamp! You can support Heliograf and the environment by purchasing the lamp here or at Japan Nakama.
