Meet the Tote – A ‘Lightweight’ Light Designed By Humans And Gravity

The Tote is one of those lights that really makes you go – wait, how does that even work? Aside from the fact that it’s designed to literally allow gravity to inform the light’s form, there’s some brilliant artistry and engineering gone into removing any ‘industrial’ elements that would ruin the light’s illusion, like cables, bulbs, etc.

The Tote is a gorgeous luxury light that involves a woven metal ‘tote’ bag, with three blown-glass orbs inside, glowing rather mysteriously. The orbs do two things – they firstly emit light that glows through the metal weave of the bag, but secondly, they also inform the shape of the tote bag, creating a uniquely fluid form that feels like fabric… because it is!

Designer: Rhea Mehta

Most lights come with this weird sense of rigidity. Unless they’re those ‘conceal them now’ LED strips, almost all light fixtures or lamps are static. They aren’t made to bend, flex, or just follow the shape of external factors influencing them. That’s the idea that sparked the birth of Tote. Luxury designer Rhea Mehta (who’s worked on much larger installations for hotel chains like Marriott and The Park) decided to create a light that quite literally changes based on what’s ‘inside it’. The idea sparked the birth of Tote, a metal-weave bag with three orbs of light inside. The orbs shift and move, and as a result, the bag’s shape alters too. No two totes look exactly the same… but here’s the more important detail – there’s no wire or cable in sight.

For discerning designers like me, the Tote’s main fascinating detail is its lack of it. The lamp comes with a stand that holds two tote bags on either side (sort of like weighing scales). The stand is an individual entity, the tote bags are their own entities too, and the orbs inside are their own individual units as well. But for the life of me, it took me ages to figure out how the lamp actually works. Speaking to Rhea, I later learned that the Tote is equal parts artistic vision and incredible craftsmanship.

Working with local artisans in Mumbai, Rhea developed a concealed cable system that hides wonderfully, passing through the tote’s hollow handles and into the bag without being visible to the eye. The cables then enter each orb to power the lights, which shine through with such immaculate diffusion that you don’t see the light source – you just see the glowing orb.

That sheer obsession with executing artistic vision is what makes the Tote such a formidable light piece. The designer obsessed over the details, not relenting even in the slightest to any compromise or technical hiccup. Most designers bargain with engineering teams and compromise to reach something that balances vision and practicality, sometimes in favor of diluting the vision. The Tote doesn’t do that.

Rhea has always focused on exemplifying unique and impactful concept-heavy pieces with futuristic undertones. We featured her Whim light, which drew inspiration from Arizona’s Antelope Canyons. Since then, she’s even worked on India’s second-largest lighting installation, measuring up to 100 feet, for the country’s Taj hotel chain. What’s so spectacular about the Tote is the simplicity of the idea behind it, and the intricate complexity of its execution. It’s a lamp, it has playful qualities, and the tote itself can be carried from room to room too, removing the constraint of a fixed lighting design by seamlessly transitioning between pedestal, to pendant, to table light. Not just that, it uses the finest materials too – no plastic, no cheap cost-cutting materials. A woven metal bag, with perfect blown-glass light orbs inside. It’s fashion meets illumination.

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