Future Art DecoEDC Tool · Contest Entry2026

Future Art Deco Flashlight

An everyday-carry flashlight that reinterprets Art Deco geometry through precision-machined aluminium and brass.

  • Concept Design
  • Form Development
  • CMF
  • Sketching
Two renders of the EDC flashlight: black and brass version beside a silver version

Future Art Deco is a contest concept for an EDC flashlight that asks what a century of design language can teach a pocket tool. Starting from the geometry and craftsmanship of Art Deco, the form travels through industrial modernism, brutalism and contemporary precision engineering — landing on an object that is symmetrical, sculptural and unmistakably machined.

The Problem

Most EDC flashlights are anonymous cylinders: functional, but indistinguishable from one another and often bulky in the pocket. The brief was to give a compact torch a strong, memorable identity while keeping it slim, grippable and honest about how it is made.

My Approach

I mapped a design-language evolution — Art Deco (1930), industrial modernism (1958), brutalism (1969) and precision engineering (2017) — and distilled it into five key features: geometry, symmetry, lines, machine and patterns. Form exploration moved from round bodies to a thin, flat profile with a flared Art Deco head, a fluted tactical grip and a circular dial framed by a dark brass insert. The final concept is a CNC-machined black anodised aluminium body with a pocket clip and twin lenses.

The Outcome

A slim, symmetrical EDC flashlight with a distinct character — offered in a black-and-brass version and a silver version — where every line reads as intentional and every surface celebrates the machining that made it.

Key Features

01

Art Deco Head

A flared, stepped head that gives the tool its silhouette and echoes 1930s geometry

02

CNC Body

Precision-machined black anodised aluminium structure

03

Brass Detail

Dark brass insert framing the circular dial and screen

04

Tactical Grip

Fluted lines for grip that double as the visual pattern

05

Pocket Clip

Thin, flat profile designed to live in a pocket

06

Two Finishes

Black-and-brass and silver versions of the same machined body

Two renders of the EDC flashlight: black and brass version beside a silver version
Black & brass version and silver version
Annotated render of the flashlight highlighting the Art Deco head, brass detail, CNC body, tactical grip and pocket clip
Materials and key details — anodised aluminium and dark brass
Design-language timeline from Art Deco to industrial modernism, brutalism and precision engineering
Design language evolution — 1930 to 2017
Future Art Deco moodboard with fluted surfaces, machined metal and geometric objects
Future Art Deco moodboard
Form exploration sketches for the flashlight with key features listed
Form exploration — geometry, symmetry, lines, machine, patterns
Final concept sketches of the flashlight in front, side and perspective views
Final concept sketches

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