Valay Turns Bamboo’s Natural Variations Into A Modular Lighting System

Indian designer Tanmay Bhavsar has developed Valay, a modular lighting system that uses bamboo’s natural irregularities as part of its design. Instead of forcing the plant-based material into a uniform industrial mould, the system accommodates differences in diameter, wall thickness and curvature.

A Halo Made From Bamboo

The name Valay (वलय) is Sanskrit for ‘ring’ or ‘halo’. It refers to both the circular composition of the lighting system and the warm halo of light it produces. Repeated bamboo elements form a radial crown through rotation and staggered placement.

Each element starts as a bamboo culm. The culm is cut at a precise angle, split lengthways and combined with other sections in offset layers. Bamboo strips placed between the sections connect the individual parts. The production study explores cuts at angles of 30, 45 and 60 degrees, allowing the basic component to create different geometries and lighting effects.

The layered construction also echoes the growth structure of bamboo, linking the final form to the material’s natural origin.

Designing With Material Variation

Bamboo is renewable and fast-growing, but its organic character can complicate industrial production. No two culms have exactly the same dimensions or curvature. This makes it difficult to achieve the precision and repeatability associated with conventional manufactured components.

Valay responds with a deliberately simple and consistent cutting and joining method. Its halved profiles and staggered arrangement can absorb dimensional differences between culms. As a result, each component may retain subtle variations while still fitting into a larger modular system.

This approach treats irregularity as a design quality rather than a defect. It could also reduce the need for intensive material processing to make bamboo conform to strictly standardised dimensions.

One Module, Multiple Configurations

Bhavsar designed the repeatable unit to support several lighting typologies. By changing the angle, rotation and arrangement of the components, designers can adapt the system’s scale, form and light distribution.

The project aims to combine bamboo’s visual warmth with the flexibility required for modular production. It demonstrates how product and interior designers can develop scalable systems around the physical properties of a natural material, rather than removing the characteristics that make it distinctive.

Valay was developed by Tanmay Bhavsar at India’s National Institute of Design and entered in the Interior category of the Only Natural 2026 competition.

Source & images: Tanmay Bhavsar.