Klemens Schillinger

Klemens Schillinger is a product and furniture designer, based in Vienna, Austria. After graduating in 2001 from the Royal College of Art, London, he has worked as a freelance designer for various design studios while carrying on his practice and research. He has worked on projects for Hem, RIM-Blackberry and Kvadrat, among others.

His work aims to develop simple yet well-thought-out products, design methods, and ‘do it yourself’ procedures. The result is often an almost self-evident product solution with minimal use of materials and well-balanced poetic accents. The charm lies in clarity and restraint. Schillinger received in 2018 the Swarovski Award for Excellence in Austria; in 2019 the Design Concepts Price from Staatspreis für Design in Austria. Since 2019 he has been
teaching at the Applied Art and Design program at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.

Off-grid lamps
During his stay in Hollenegg, Klemens Schillinger often found himself at night, after dinner, walking around the castle in almost complete darkness. He also noticed that some of the rooms could only be used during the day because they had no electricity, or were illuminated by a dim chandelier and offered no plugs for other lamps or devices. For this reason, the castle felt like the perfect setting in which to further explore his concept
for an off-grid lamp.

As the name suggests, the Off-grid lamps are not connected to the power grid. Instead, a hand-operated crank or a foot pedal charge a generator and allow a person to produce their own energy with physical exercise. Instead of passively sitting at a desk consuming electricity for long hours, one can take a break, activate arms and legs, and recharge the lamp. With the help of modern LED technology and a rechargeable battery, one can cover the distances in the castle with the lamp as a modern torch, or search for a book in the library at any time of the day. Both the technology and the principle are simple: whoever gives something gets something in return.