Diatom Lanterns is a series of sculptural lanterns inspired by algae, tiny organisms that reflect and modify light.
Diatoms
These multicellular creatures are full of creative solutions. They live in oceans, lakes, rivers, and soils around the world, generating energy by turning sunlight into sugar.
Tiny but mighty, they produce 20% of the oxygen on the planet and are key drivers of oxygen and carbon cycles.
Diatom shells grow with astonishing precision, creating transparent barriers that manage materials and transform light.
Version Zero
This project started as a weekend goal of making art on a CNC machine.
It has since developed into a long-lasting curiosity that has crossed into biology, manufacturing, and optics.
How can diatoms inspire lanterns and light-based art?
Approach
This project is an invitation to think creatively about nature, art, and light.
With each version, I’ll include more biological principles and explore new-to-me technologies and manufacturing approaches.
SEM
Much of what we know about diatoms comes from scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
This technology creates black and white images by shooting a beam of electrons at a sample: capturing nanoscale details, showing the material characteristics, and allowing us to take measurements.
All microscope photos from Lichen Labs.
Light Microscope
I’d typically seen diatoms as solid in the black and white SEM images.
A light microscope reveals a different reality - their shells are transparent. As I read more, I learned that that these structures are made of glass, grown by living organisms using processes vastly gentler than our manufacturing methods.
Version 1
January–June 2024
The first version of Diatom Lanterns started with what I know: CNC machining with wood and metal. This version is a modular lantern that allowed me to test several ideas and approaches.
This version became a set of ten lanterns with interchangeable parts that I continue to modify. Future upgrades may turn them into energy hubs that power sets of smaller lanterns.
Version 2
November 2024 – Present
The next version translates diatom forms into a compact lantern that is designed to cast patterns. Here I started learning to 3D model and print parts, using transparent materials to create softly glowing shapes.
3D printing allows for organic forms and do prototype rapidly.
Back to Science
Adaptive Ecosystems is studying how diatoms grow glass shells, summarizing current knowledge and theory in writing and illustration.
Understanding this process will require specialized expertise in chemistry, materials, and optics. The initial research we gather will be a starting point for future phases.
Reflection
Arts funding has made it possible to explore biological forms and has given me permission to learn through experimentation. Over the project I have followed hundreds of curiosities, some that worked, many that didn’t, in all cases leading to new understandings.
Connect
Are you an expert on diatoms? A marine biologist with an interest in silification? Someone who knows a little more than most about mathematics or optics?