DEMO 2025
DEMO 2025
DEMO 2025
What if the cursor took control?
Folder Lamp is a short 3D motion piece selected for DEMO Festival 2025, the world’s biggest event dedicated to motion design. Created in response to the theme of visual deformation, the animation explores the strange tension between digital control and physical reality.Selected among 5,400 entries and showcased at Amsterdam Central Station and in every public space in the Netherlands, this project was a personal and artistic milestone.
CONCEPT
CONCEPT
The idea behind Folder Lamp is to merge the familiar with the surreal. I wanted to create a physical object inspired by the classic “folder” icon—reimagined as a metallic desk lamp. Controlled by a floating cursor, this lamp is endlessly twisted, stretched, and deformed, only to be reset with a single click. This infinite loop reflects our helplessness when facing digital logic: actions seem calculated, but remain unpredictable.
The piece embraces this tension between control and chaos, artificiality and realism, absurdity and beauty.
The idea behind Folder Lamp is to merge the familiar with the surreal. I wanted to create a physical object inspired by the classic “folder” icon—reimagined as a metallic desk lamp. Controlled by a floating cursor, this lamp is endlessly twisted, stretched, and deformed, only to be reset with a single click. This infinite loop reflects our helplessness when facing digital logic: actions seem calculated, but remain unpredictable.
The piece embraces this tension between control and chaos, artificiality and realism, absurdity and beauty.
CONCEPT
The idea behind Folder Lamp is to merge the familiar with the surreal. I wanted to create a physical object inspired by the classic “folder” icon—reimagined as a metallic desk lamp. Controlled by a floating cursor, this lamp is endlessly twisted, stretched, and deformed, only to be reset with a single click. This infinite loop reflects our helplessness when facing digital logic: actions seem calculated, but remain unpredictable.
The piece embraces this tension between control and chaos, artificiality and realism, absurdity and beauty.
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
I started from a very simple mind map centered around the word “deformation”, which is at the heart of DEMO Festival’s visual identity. From there, I explored the nostalgic world of Windows XP icons, the minimal elegance of iOS, and the brutalist functionality of Jean Prouvé’s lighting designs.
I toyed with the idea of a metallic file holder, but moved toward something more poetic: a lamp shaped like a folder, where light is revealed indirectly through shiny metal, not directly from the bulb.
Pixar’s iconic desk lamp also crept in as a subtle nod to digital life becoming animated, alive.
I started from a very simple mind map centered around the word “deformation”, which is at the heart of DEMO Festival’s visual identity. From there, I explored the nostalgic world of Windows XP icons, the minimal elegance of iOS, and the brutalist functionality of Jean Prouvé’s lighting designs.
I toyed with the idea of a metallic file holder, but moved toward something more poetic: a lamp shaped like a folder, where light is revealed indirectly through shiny metal, not directly from the bulb.
Pixar’s iconic desk lamp also crept in as a subtle nod to digital life becoming animated, alive.
RESEARCH
I started from a very simple mind map centered around the word “deformation”, which is at the heart of DEMO Festival’s visual identity. From there, I explored the nostalgic world of Windows XP icons, the minimal elegance of iOS, and the brutalist functionality of Jean Prouvé’s lighting designs.
I toyed with the idea of a metallic file holder, but moved toward something more poetic: a lamp shaped like a folder, where light is revealed indirectly through shiny metal, not directly from the bulb.
Pixar’s iconic desk lamp also crept in as a subtle nod to digital life becoming animated, alive.
DESIGN
DESIGN
The entire aesthetic leans into sober realism.
The lamp’s material is raw, brushed metal. The setting is intentionally minimal, letting every movement speak. I removed all textual elements, pop-ups, or UI clutter to preserve a universal, silent language.
The palette is nearly monochrome, the lighting dramatic, and the focus is tight: just the object and the cursor. This sharp framing makes every distortion feel intense and deliberate, drawing the viewer into a hypnotic digital ballet.
The entire aesthetic leans into sober realism.
The lamp’s material is raw, brushed metal. The setting is intentionally minimal, letting every movement speak. I removed all textual elements, pop-ups, or UI clutter to preserve a universal, silent language.
The palette is nearly monochrome, the lighting dramatic, and the focus is tight: just the object and the cursor. This sharp framing makes every distortion feel intense and deliberate, drawing the viewer into a hypnotic digital ballet.
DESIGN
The entire aesthetic leans into sober realism.
The lamp’s material is raw, brushed metal. The setting is intentionally minimal, letting every movement speak. I removed all textual elements, pop-ups, or UI clutter to preserve a universal, silent language.
The palette is nearly monochrome, the lighting dramatic, and the focus is tight: just the object and the cursor. This sharp framing makes every distortion feel intense and deliberate, drawing the viewer into a hypnotic digital ballet.
DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT
The piece was fully created in Blender using a mix of keyframe animation and interactive deformation experiments. I intentionally left room for play during production—letting the cursor’s actions evolve naturally through animation.
The rendering focused on achieving a tactile feel: metallic reflections, subtle shadows, and soft glows. No soundtrack, no effects—just motion. The video was delivered in vertical format, 10 seconds long, and designed to loop seamlessly, as required by the DEMO Festival’s special screens.
The piece was fully created in Blender using a mix of keyframe animation and interactive deformation experiments. I intentionally left room for play during production—letting the cursor’s actions evolve naturally through animation.
The rendering focused on achieving a tactile feel: metallic reflections, subtle shadows, and soft glows. No soundtrack, no effects—just motion. The video was delivered in vertical format, 10 seconds long, and designed to loop seamlessly, as required by the DEMO Festival’s special screens.
DEVELOPMENT
The piece was fully created in Blender using a mix of keyframe animation and interactive deformation experiments. I intentionally left room for play during production—letting the cursor’s actions evolve naturally through animation.
The rendering focused on achieving a tactile feel: metallic reflections, subtle shadows, and soft glows. No soundtrack, no effects—just motion. The video was delivered in vertical format, 10 seconds long, and designed to loop seamlessly, as required by the DEMO Festival’s special screens.
