While working on the P01 Mini, I realized that the cap of the glass shade is not proportionally aligned with the P01 regular size. It was very frustrating because I could have had her ready to sell but the cap is bigger. Right now I’m trying to figure out if is better to make a custom cap, my neighbor Eric is going to help me printing some pieces to see if they work; or adjust the metal base and make a little dent where the cap fits perfectly; or make the metal pieces not equal, meaning that one of the sides would have more negative space than others, in order to fit the cap. All this words don’t make sense if I don’t show a picture or a video, so here it is:

I’m also testing the type of bulb that this lamps needs. Since is a smaller shade, we can’t just use E26 bulbs, we are using E12 now but some of them are very very long and this causes that the light the bulb emits is not even, or some shadows start to appear because the glass is to close to the bulb. I’m thinking on selling this lamp with the bulb already and the cable will have a dimmer. I’m in the look of a bulb that is warmer because some of them are only 2700K which is warm but not that much, I’m aiming for a 2400K.

Anyways, I think I’m very close to solve this problem. I’m also working on P02 which has been a long project too. I’ve finish various prototypes for the P02 but I’m still not satisfied about the final results. Theres a lot of limitations regarding my ability to work with metal but also big companies want me to product 200 pieces, which is not realistic for me.

Song of the week: MIKE - Pieces of a Dream

I was recently in New York closing out an old storage unit and realized I had two lamps there. It was crazy that while I was there I received two orders, so I was able to ship them out much faster than my usual pre-order process.

While I was away from LA, I had the idea to create a smaller version of the P01. Since the original is a 10 in. cube, some customers have mentioned they would love a version for a nightstand or a smaller table. I’m now working on an 8 in. cube version, which would likely reduce the price by almost 1/3.

I would love to get your opinion on this so please feel free to share your thoughts in the poll below.

I also did my first collab with an influencer (shoutout Elisa), and I’m so happy and excited with how it turned out! I’m going to be uploading a video introducing myself and talking a little bit about the brand and what the process of making the lamps has been like.

We were away from LA for a month and when we got back the garden looked pretty wild. I need to find time this week/end to take care of it! In some of my previous substack’s I talked a little bit about the repurposing of materials for my compost. (:

Song of the week: Glorilla - Lick or Sum

On May 20th I got married with my beautiful now-wife Jessica. It was a beautiful day, and I have never in my life experienced a level of happiness like that. Seeing her walking down the aisle completely broke me into tears. I can’t believe I found this person that supports me, loves me and understands me in many ways. It was a really beautiful experience, although my family couldn’t be there, neither some of my closest friends, they were there virtually and it was also very crazy seeing everybody there in the same screen (Thanks to everybody who attended, it means a lot to me). Les dejo una fotico bonita aquí:

May 20th, 2025. Jessica Valadez & Leonardo Murillo

I moved to Los Angeles after being in New York for around 4 years. Four years of incredible growing, exploring, working, playing, and listening to music that I like. While being in NY I started developing the prototypes for P01, after many mistakes I got to a place where I felt confident to sell them. Yesterday I realized that I could have done something different to improve the design, but it’s funny how just taking time and staying away from a project and coming back after time really gives you a different perspective on things.

Usually, I work with this metal company that specializes in bending, cutting, and other services related to metal. One of my complaints of working with them is the amount of filler that they put in their packages when I receive pieces. It’s actually absurd the amount they put; I understand that you need to protect the pieces but this is another level. At least, they’re using just recycled paper. I’m saying this, because this week I’ve also been working a lot in the garden and prepping the compost that I’m using for my soil and one of the problems I was having is that for a compost to be “healthy” you need roughly 50% of greens (nitrogen) which is things like fruits, veggies, coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, etc. And 50% of browns (carbon) such as cardboard, paper, dry leaves, brown bags, and others. And I barely had browns, and my wife kept mentioning “Amor, when are you taking the compost from the freezer to the garden?” And I just kept pushing it because if I throw everything in the bin without browns, the compost gets very wet, slimy and starts smelling like shit. Having this ton of paper from the metal company saved my compost by just having a more balanced mix of carbon and nitrogen (Special thanks to mi amor’s shredding machine).

I really encourage people to start gardening, it’s a nice way of just getting your hands dirty and feeling the soil and disconnecting a bit from whatever you do during your day, in my case it’s just being in front of a computer for 8+ hours a day. Starting a compost is so easy, and I know some of my friends that live in NY might not have the space but you can always plant spices indoor and you don’t need a big pot to do so.

I paused my Etsy shop because of all the moving and stress that I was going under in between selling everything that I had, packaging things that I love and are not replaceable, finding an apartment in LA and more. While having the Etsy shop paused, I found this opportunity for a partnership with this awesome manufacturer and I’m so fucking excited for this. The project is going to take a few months but the outcome is going to be very fulfilling for me and I’m going to be able to deliver a product with more sustainable materials and shipping it faster than before.

I will be posting more updates on the partnership in the next months.

The first prototype was in wood because that how I initially was envisioning this piece to be, with a more warm feeling from the wood and keeping the globe in glass. Here’s a picture of the first prototype and some drawings:

After uploading this pictures in this post I realized that I kinda like the look of the wood, I might do a variation of the P01 after all.

I reached out to a lot of carpenters in New York but since I just wanted a prototype, the size of the project it was too small for them. That’s when I just decided to look for other materials that allowed me to be more flexible and more independent. After doing research for about 2 months, I found this place that is specialized in working with metal and it was very good.

That’s when everything started flowing a little bit smoothly. Even though it was easier to prototype, being my first time working with physical materials it was a whole different experience. Taking into consideration the thickness of the materials, calculating how much the material expands after bending it, you are not really aware of those details after you actually start working with it (or at least that was my experience).

I still have my first metal prototype in my house. And just going back to it and looking at it, I’m glad that it holds the same essence of the final product that it is right now. After testing and failing, testing and failing, testing and kinda failing but kinda succeeding at the same time, I got to a point where I was really happy with the results. The piece feels sturdy, the metallic finish is the one I wanted, the electrical connection is perfect, it just feels so good to be able to touch something that you created with your hands.

Here are some photos of the final product

Shop P01 / Lamp here

Quise crear este newsletter para compartir, escribir, y pensar sobre mi trayectoria durante todo este proceso. Va a funcionar como un espacio para poner cualquier pensamiento creativo. Quiero que las personas que siguen mi trabajo sepan un poco mas sobre la razón y sobre como empezó todo. Estoy muy agradecido por el apoyo y espero que disfruten este trayecto tanto como yo lo estoy disfrutando.

¿Por qué empezarlo ahorita? Mi prometida me inspiró; luego de leer sus palabras, me inspiró a crear este newsletter y comenzar a compartir más mis pensamientos con esta comunidad que estoy empezando. Quiero también alentar a mis amigos y personas en este espacio a que empiecen a hacer más cosas que han estado posponiendo, o el simple hecho de tener miedo a no saber como empezar algo, yo tampoco supe, pero lo que es importante es estar rodeado de personas que te inspiren.

Este newsletter, más que un espacio para mi, es un espacio seguro para cualquier persona creativa que quiera comenzar a desarrollar sus ideas propias y convertir pensamientos en algo tangible.

With love,
murirami