I have toyed with the idea of creating a lamp using a laser cutter before, but have never really gotten further than the design stage. This time would be different.
I decided upon using Rhino and Grasshopper and designing the lamp parametrically, so that its dimensions could be easily adjusted, depending on the dimensions of the laser cutter and materials available for production. I also wanted the design to be simple as this would be my first time using a laser cutter, but I still wanted something delicate that would be difficult to create by hand.
Design
I started playing with a revolved shape and then cutting that shape with radials from the center to create slices of that shape that could be laser cut. The number of radials would be adjustable depending on the final shape and material thickness.![]() |
Overall shape |
![]() |
Zero thickness geometry |
![]() |
Geometry with thickness |
![]() |
No clashes in risk area |
Production
In order to produce the lamp with a laser cutter, the geometry needs to be laid out in 2D so that material is effectively utilized. This process of laying out the geometry is called nesting. In order to do effective nesting, the dimensions of the laser cutter are needed.There are several options available for people that want to experiment with laser cutting in Denmark. There are commercial services like Cotter.dk, where you can upload your design and they produce it for you, for a price (can be quite hefty, this lamp (before optimization) was around 700DKK). Students at DTU can take advantage of the facilities there. For others, non-students like me, there are two fablabs in Copenhagen. One in Nordvest and one in Valby.
![]() |
Fablabs in Copenhagen, free usage |
Once I knew the dimensions of the material I started the nesting process. I used a free nesting algorithm plugin for Grasshopper, Generation. It did not provide perfect results, but good enough so that I could improve them myself. During this process I realized that it could be beneficial to change the geometry of the slices so that the sides would be identical. That way the laser cutter would not have to do a double pass and the cutting time would be halved.
Michael Hviid, the fablab manager was super helpful in helping me picking the right format to use as input to the lamp and giving me instructions on how to use the printer.
![]() |
Cutting the first batch |
Assembly of pieces |
I bought a light fixture and a vintage style light bulb to put into the lamp.
The final product |
Those interested in understanding how the geometry is derived, or wanting to improve on where I left off can download the files below. I have included the Rhino file, Grasshopper script and the pdf output required for producing the lamp in a cutter that can handle at least 600x400mm.
Lasercut_lamp.zip