Tokyo-based designer Nobuaki Sato created these Riffle LED lamps, in both desktop and floor-standing configurations, made of walnut veneer:

What's crazy is that this is apparently the hinge:

There's a stop-motion clip of it in the third frame of this Instagram post:

Assuming this isn't vaporware, do you have any idea how he pulled this off?

The outer leaves of the veneer cover the hinge pin.

Yes, I agree. It doesn't seem like too much of a mystery. Probably as simple as a dowel through the inner veneers and glued to the outer veneers, with the spring action of veneers applying enough pressure to hold it in place.

i agree w Dan, probably a hinge pin or tube in all the layers but the outer most ones.  something like this. https://imgur.com/a/Y1KYtsp

Actually, it's far easier then that. Interleave a stack of playing cards with another stack and there is a lot more friction then you think. Same here. Interleave two stacks of walnut veneer and you end up with more then enough friction to hold the pieces together. You would need to be very careful in applying glue or use some sort of masking to exclude wood glue for the last few inches. If i were making this, I would also use 2 strips of copper tape between specific layers of both pieces such that, when assembled, they form the wiring for the LED.

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.

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