A Product Designer’s Dream Home in Paris

This article is part of our Design special section about creating space with the look and feel for one person.

Timeless with a bit of magic. That is how the company Lumio describes its small line of lamps and speakers that are designed with smart functionality but also a distinct sense of delight. Max Gunawan started Lumio in 2013 with a portable light shaped like a book that turns on when opened and — voilà! — its accordionlike pages form a sculptural fixture that can be used in various tabletop configurations or hung from a strap.

Relying on Kickstarter campaigns for initial funding, Mr. Gunawan, 43, took an unconventional path in building his venture. Trained as an architect, he founded Lumio with no experience in industrial design or business leadership, driven by a unique and uncompromising idea of the product he wanted. (He persuaded all the panelists in season six of the ABC show “Shark Tank” to make investment offers, though none ultimately panned out.) Lumio’s collection has expanded to include an illuminated Bluetooth speaker that refers to the Japanese art of kintsugi and, most recently, a seesaw-arm desk lamp inspired, in part, by the stabile sculptures of Alexander Calder.

The San Francisco–based company’s products are now sold through some 200 retail outlets in 30 countries.

Mr. Gunawan’s creations are available on Lumio’s site, in select design and gift boutiques, and at a number of museum shops, including MoMA Design Store, the first retailer to offer the Lumio book light.

“You don’t need to be a design expert to appreciate it,” said Emmanuel Plat, MoMA’s director of retail merchandising, who described the book light as having a poetic quality. “It’s just so universal in a way that anybody really can react to it. It’s hard not to have a reaction to it, an emotional reaction.”

He added: “What really sets Max apart is, he has that left-right brain, where he has a design mind and the creativity to create this object but also the know-how, the business mind to finance and produce all of this.”