What was the Inspiration for the Solight Design?
They say the mother of invention is Necessity and the Daughter of Invention is Curiosity. We get curious about the world and why we are here. Questions of purpose and meaning become more and more prevalent as technology replaces so many of our basic tasks. Climate change has confronted some of us in violent ways-natural and political confluence is all interconnected from war to natural disasters. There came a time when I said “this is enough, I can’t sit by anymore, I need to do something to help.” I was teaching at Columbia University and I had already been using solar energy as my primary research topic because when my son was born with asthma, I noticed there were so many kids with asthma in the doctor’s office and then basically, after googling asthma related to pollution, 75% of the pollution in the air comes from building because of energy consumption. There happens to be a spike of children with asthma in every urban center throughout the country and even the world.
What are some of the issues faced by those that you help?
When the Haiti earthquake happened in 2010, I quickly turned my studio around to be an Innovation Studio that helped Haiti. That’s when we realized 1.6 billion people live out without access to electricity and they use kerosene to light their world at night, which is a deadly toxic fuel. According to The UNDP, 2 million children die each year from the toxic fumes and the impoverished communities that may live on just 3 dollars a day, spend up to 30% of their income on kerosene.
What was the intention with the design and development of the Solight lanterns?
I researched every solar light out there. They were all heavy, bulky, utilitarian looking. I’m a Korean American and grew up doing origami as a child and I was inspired by the origami balloon, which flat packs and pops open into a cube shape. This was one of the design inspirations of the SolarPuff.
As an architect and my background being in architecture there’s always a need to keep things beautiful and simple. My background in Material technology helped me source materials that were non-toxic and recyclable.
Can you tell me about your mission to the Ukraine?
When I went to Ukraine and visited the hospitals with children, I saw so many children with amputated legs and arms as well as children with PTSD from the bombings and violence. We are continuing to send light to them as well as to other regions of Ukraine under fire such as Bakmut. I traveled alone and delivered our SolarPuff solar lights to Ukrainian children and delivered our SolarPuff lights to two refugee camps and three children’s hospitals in Lviv and Kyiv. My trip during Christmas was purposeful knowing that many children have PTSD all over Ukraine. The air raids and bombings have left lifelong scars of trauma on their psyche. The children are the innocent victims who have seen the unimaginable. However, a boy who lost his leg in a bombing in his village was alone at the hospital during Christmas—when I gave him the SolarPuff his eyes widened and he smiled for the first time, thinking of how he would use it for camping in the forest near his house with his two younger sisters. He loved camping and I thought he’s just like our kids in the States. They are just like our kids.
