For most design students, a graduation project is an exercise in aspiration. It’s the culmination of several years of study and research, the goal of which is to coax a company or more established designer to hire you for an internship or entry-level job. But for Esther Jongsma and Sam van Gurp, the founders of Dutch lighting studio Vantot, their thesis at the Design Academy Eindhoven became the foundation of a now-flourishing company. The project — Exploded View, a series of pendants that examines dimmability through the positioning of a moveable LED in relation to a gridded lampshade with a mirroring foil reflector — caught the eye of Microsoft, which commissioned the pair to create a custom version for its headquarters in Seattle....