With SOME PRECIOUS POISON, As A Ceremony has initiated an ongoing research project that addresses the responsibility of light(ing) designers with regards to material, functionality and obsolescence. Today, designers face a simple paradox: each object they design will eventually turn into waste. As waste disposal becomes an increasingly pressing issue for the environment, the question arises: how can designers stand behind their profession? Just as it has become common practice in gastronomy to carefully choose ingredients based on their origins and footprints, As A Ceremony began to research the materials and components used in their own designs to fully understand the impact they would later have on the environment: LED chips for example, are not only produced of rare earth metals out of the ever-shrinking mines but also completely non-recyclable by design. The retrofit bulbs containing these chips are not designed to be repaired and, despite saving energy and lowering electricity costs, they eventually end up as valuable, but useless waste – some precious poison.

With this research, As A Ceremony aims to raise awareness on the urgency for designers, alongside manufacturers and consumers, to take into consideration where materials come from, how they are being produced and what will happen to them along their lifecycle.