Wow, thank you all for the thoughtful feedback. I appreciate it! If there’s a better way to respond to everyone let me know, sorry, it’s going to be a long one 
AVClub:
Thanks! Our master’s program is a good blend of thinking and making which I think has been fantastic. Lighting design is something that’s interesting to me and I’m hoping the EE background could get me involved in things like consumer electronics and audio products down the road.
The lamp you posted is interesting, I considered using metal snaps to electrically connect the OLED panel to the top, but after some experimenting and seeing the high current draw of the light source, even at low voltage the potential safety hazard it created wasn’t worth the risk to me, so I went forward with hollow tube.
iab:
There was a fair bit of iterations of the cone angles, size, and lengths of the bar, maybe most easily seen in the cardboard model and red CAD concept. That said I totally agree with what you’re saying, I could have really iterated on the proportions and taken it to more extremes. I’ll do that next.
yo:
Thanks a lot for the honesty, these are all great points to think on! I was hoping to use the OLED panel’s flexibility to wrap around a frame so it could also be the shade. I scrapped that idea for a preinstalled OLED panel in the shade because there wasn’t any real reason I could justify this part being removable. You’re right, this doesn’t accomplish anything an incandescent bulb wouldn’t. My one rule was that the shade had to have a visible hole going through it to show there is no incandescent bulb. I also wanted to hold on to the traditional shade form with the idea that it wasn’t too much of a visual jump from a standard desk lamp and maybe it would make the rings stand out more. I’m realizing this isn’t really working though. I’ll have to rethink this!
You’re right about the power button and the quality of the prototype, I should have made more time for them.
The base was something that stuck with me from studying Konstantin Grcic seen in the base of Chair_One. I wanted to iterate on that swivel mechanism but instead make use of the geometry of a cone over another cone base kind of how ice cream cones are packaged. This point stuck until the final concept to allow the lamp to swivel on the base.
Personally, I struggled with being too attached to the cone form and initial design, it was something that I kept coming back to through the iteration, but it hasn’t resonated very strongly with most people. Of all the points of interest you mention, I’ve received feedback that the joint is the strongest element. This makes me more comfortable with letting this initial design go and explore more freely.
rkuchinsky:
Great points! Totally feel free to sketch and post it here, and thanks! Maybe I’ll document my iterations taking this further here as well. There’s a lot of issues with the existing form, I’m kind of thinking of a totally different form this could evolve into. 
Mrog:
Good points! When I assembled the 3d prints I actually used a few coats of PVA glue on the surface that grips the ring to give it a more tacky finish and more finely tune the friction of the rotating joint. In the prototype it ended up being fairly smooth but stayed rigid enough to keep it in place. You’re right, in the exploded view I didn’t use the more detailed, cut up parts I 3d printed to actually build it. I should update this.
Wosh:
Thanks for the comment and for following along, it’s been a wild ride and I’m having a lot of fun!
That’s a good point, the top surface transition you mention is something I didn’t fully resolve and what you’ve said makes a lot of sense to me.