The Adilo pendant lamp has received the Red Dot Design Award 2026 in the Product Design category – one of the most internationally recognised honours in contemporary design
Designed for Secto Design by Ilkka Kauppinen, Adilo introduces a foldable wooden structure that rethinks how pendant lighting is transported, stored and installed. Made from ultra-thin birch veneer slats, the lamp is delivered flat as a circular disc and opens into its three-dimensional form in a single movement, requiring no tools or assembly.
Award-winning wooden lighting design
The Red Dot jury recognised Adilo for its balance of innovation, functionality and material efficiency. By reducing volume in transport and storage, the design addresses logistical challenges while maintaining the warm, refined aesthetic associated with Scandinavian lighting design and Secto Design’s wooden lamps. According to the jury, the design “combines aesthetic sophistication with environmental awareness and demonstrates how traditional materials can be reinterpreted.”
Sustainable design with Finnish birch
Secto Design has long worked with Finnish birch, a renewable, carbon-binding material central to its identity. With Adilo, the material is used in an innovative way – lightweight, flexible and optimised for efficient shipping – supporting more sustainable product logistics without sacrificing durability or aesthetic quality. The lamp diffuses light softly through its wooden slats, creating a calm, atmospheric effect suited to both residential and public interiors.
For Ilkka Kauppinen, a wood artisan and industrial designer born in 1988, the field of lighting design is new. While Adilo is the first lamp he has created, its concept dates back over a decade. Exploring how a flat wooden element can transform into a spatial structure required years of trial and error, motivated by the will to find a solution to this design dilemma. “I wanted to create a foldable lamp that would respond to logistical challenges without compromising on appearance or quality,” Kauppinen explains.
Scandinavian lighting innovation by Secto Design
Founded in 1995, Secto Design is known for architectural wooden lighting that combines clarity of form with respect for natural materials. The Red Dot Design Award highlights the company’s ongoing focus on developing contemporary lighting solutions that respond to evolving design and environmental considerations. Adilo represents a forward-looking approach to lighting design – where innovation, sustainability and usability are considered as essential as aesthetics.
Adilo and Adilo Small pendant lamps, designed by Ilkka Kauppinen, are manufactured by Secto Design in Heinola, Finland.
Images and content courtesy of Secto Design.