AboutAD Lucem
AD Lucem is a small workshop in Armenia making lamps from plywood — each one drawn, cut and finished by hand, one at a time.
It started with a single sheet of plywood and a question: what happens to a building when you take away everything except its outline, and then put a light behind it?
The answer turned out to depend entirely on the building. Some landmarks collapse into noise at small scale. Others — a colonnade, a stepped terrace, a dome — get sharper. Those are the ones that became lamps.
How each lamp is made
Drawing
The landmark is redrawn as vector line work, then simplified until only what reads in shadow remains.
Cutting
The laser makes several passes at low power rather than one fast pass, which keeps the edge clean instead of charred.
Assembly
Panels are sanded, joined and fitted to the base by hand. No screws show on the finished piece.
Testing
Every lamp is switched on in a dark room before it is packed. If the shadow doesn't land right, it doesn't ship.
Materials
High-quality treated plywood, chosen because it is pale enough for the cut to read clearly and stable enough not to warp near a lit bulb.
The scorch line along each cut is left visible on purpose. Sanded away, the piece starts to look printed — the burn mark is the honest record of how it was actually made.
See them lit
Photographs only get you halfway. The shop has the full range, and the stories explain where each one came from.