By Kat Bauman - Jun 13

Watch How Caged Lamps Were Made Then and Now

Hint: not that much has changed

Caged Venetian (or Murano) glass lamps are a nearly timeless inspiration in lighting design. Their mix of metal restraint and trapped organic glass can range from sensual, to exquisitely detailed, to schlocky "Italian style" restaurant decor, and back again. (I have a conspiracy theory that those bad plastic pizza restaurant

By Kat Bauman - Jun 09

Yea or Nay?: What You Get When "Package Is Lamp"

A low waste, highly idealistic light

Cardboard, like reclaimed wood, continues to provide inspiration for materials-minded designers. It's tough but soft, ubiquitous and underrated, and incredibly easy to source. Letting the material drive the object is a similarly tried and true source of both innovation and "innovation." The R16 Lamp project aims to join the shipping

By Rain Noe - Apr 26

Less is More with This Modern-Day LED Chandelier

Industrial designer Peter Bristol and Juniper bring us Thin

The form factor of chandeliers has grown ever bulkier since its first iteration. What started out as a simple overhead platform to hold candles has steadily grown more ornate, gaudier and heavier. The addition of incandescent bulbs and glass diffusers has eliminated the form-follows-function elegance of the original design. Now

By Rain Noe - Apr 26

Transcript & Sketches from a Medieval Design Session

Designing overhead lighting for the first time wasn't easy

The original medieval overhead candle holder is a brilliant piece of "form follows function." We're thrilled to announce we've uncovered original documentation, and even sketches, of a design meeting from the Middle Ages concerning the development of this object. Industrial designers Marcus Chandelier and Phil Ips worked as lighting designers

By Ray Hu - Apr 17

Milan Design Week 2017: SaloneSatellite—20 Years and Still Going Strong

The young talent section of the Salone del Mobile takes a moment to look back while offering a premier platform for the future of furniture... and food?

As far as themes go, "DESIGN is...?" might be as open-ended as they come. If the vast majority of the 650 young designers exhibiting in SaloneSatellite 2017 are any indication, design is stuff you put in your house, with few deviations from furniture and lighting at the far end of

By Kat Bauman - Apr 12

Spotted on Coroflot: The Heavenly 'Halo' Lamp

This transcendent little light recently caught my eye over on Coroflot, where it's adding some shine to Quentin de Coster's design portfolio. The Halo is a blown glass table lamp, created around the fluorescent ring bulb at the center. The light stands 40cm high and 33cm wide, with a distinctive

By Rain Noe - Apr 11

Ron Gilad's Awesome "Dear Ingo" Task Lamp Chandelier

Gilad, please make a "Dear Ron" update

I will never tire of looking inside artists' studios. Check out visual artist Tenka Gammelgaard's Copenhagen digs: In addition to the beauty of Gammelgaard's space and work, how killer is that lamp? Designed by Ron Gilad for Dutch brand moooi in 2003, it's called the Dear Ingo. (That's a tip

By Rain Noe - Apr 04

For Sunless Apartments, a Windowshade That's Actually a Lamp

Siyu Lou's Window is a flexible, portable light source

We're always happy to see a bit of experimental and homegrown Chinese industrial design; it is only by promoting young designers that that country will be able to shed their reputation as imitators. Here's recent industrial design grad Siyu Lou's Window portable lamp: Intended as a bedside or reading lamp,

By Kat Bauman - Mar 30

Is IKEA's Disembodied Dimmer A More Romantic Take On Smart Bulbs?

Keep your eyes out for TRÅDFRI... and its teeny remote

IKEA is finally pushing seriously into smarter home territory with the TRÅDFRI system, a series of LED lights finally coming to global stores by the end of March. The networked lighting is built around a small series of bulbs and furniture panels, a network connection hub/gateway powered by Ethernet, and

By Kat Bauman - Mar 23

Shockingly Sleek Indoor Garden... Furniture?

Or lighting? Or sculpture? I don't know, but I want it

Despite grumpily noting the few options for nice indoor plant lighting the other day, and the few safe plant-incorporating lights before that, I'm grateful that Goula / Figura escaped my attention until now because no one else would have stood a chance. The Barcelona-based duo recently unveiled their Viride series

By Rain Noe - Mar 22

BioLite's Collapsible Fabric Lantern & Other NanoGrid Products

Bringing a self-sufficient lighting ecosystem to the great outdoors

You know those globe-like paper lanterns that you can get for a couple of bucks at your local Chinatown? Those are great for providing soft, ambient lighting and I've got several in my apartment. They're also terribly fragile, of course, and are only meant to live indoors.

By Rain Noe - Mar 06

3M's Daylight Redirecting Film Increases Natural Illumination While Preventing Glare

All you have to do is stick it onto a window

Sunlight is a precious commodity for office-dwellers, but it's also a double-edged sword. That warming, Vitamin-D-providing light makes you feel alive and illuminates your desk, and yet we have to block it off to prevent blinding monitor glare. 3M has invented a clever way around this. Their Daylight Redirecting

By Kat Bauman - Feb 23

Striking Lighting from Humble Parts

Industrial style benefits from this kind of play

A recent interior design collaboration by Marta Ayala Herrera and Cito Ballesta resulted in some of the more dynamic lighting I've seen so far this year. Working for the Casa Encendida creative space, the product designer/architect duo aimed to emphasize honesty and simplicity from the materials through their use.

By Rain Noe - Feb 22

Danish Design Team Creates New, Saucer-Shaped Multi-Directional Form Factor for Smart Lighting

The Orb is about the size of a flattened bagel and boasts a bevy of desirable features

That the traditional light bulb form factor still exists is purely a function of incumbency. On its own it's effective for general illumination, but not much else; it must be aimed, guided and/or reflected with shades and housings to provide the results we want, whether it's ambient lighting or task.

By Rain Noe - Feb 14

Model Painter Truly Re-Thinks the LED Task Lamp

A perfect example of Form Follows Function, with a dash of St. Louis thrown in

The design of LED desk lamps all have a disappointing sameness to them; their creators seem unable to shake the traditional bulb-using form factor, and still think of a flat, weighted base and a stalk reaching upwards to support the light source. These are essentially just skinner, flatter versions of

By Rain Noe - Feb 10

Literally Brilliant "Lighting Robot" Brings Sunlight To Parts of Your Home That Can't Get Any

Get more light while using less electricity

At certain times of year, the sun bounces off of a glass skyscraper outside my window and illuminates my apartment from an unusual angle. And the room then looks dramatically different. The sun has to thread the needle to hit this position, and the phenomenon only lasts for a few

By Kat Bauman - Jan 16

Meet Heng, A Charmingly Inverted Desk Light

Creative UI puts the switch in the middle

At first look Heng is a simple lamp, with a funny cord in the middle. The light, designed by Zanwen Li, really is simple but also more fun than it appears. The bentwood shapes and LED band are everything you'd expect, but to turn the lamp on and off you

By Rain Noe - Dec 28, 2016

The Big-Ass Light Bar

Tough, well-designed, overengineered and "bright as hell"

We like a company that empowers its employees, and here's a prime example. Big Ass Solutions is well-known for their Big Ass Fans and Big Ass Lights. Then one of their mechanics, former auto technician Keith McKay, figured he could harness the company's manufacturing and lighting prowess to produce something

By Emily Engle - Dec 21, 2016

Take the Mystery Out of Viewing Today's Winter Solstice

Here's a list of exactly where you can watch it in your city

It turns out there are plenty of other places to view today's Winter solstice besides Stonehenge—the guy who started the map/blog Stonhenge in Your City found all of them for us. Whether you're in Uganda, Israel, New York or even Lithuania, there are specific places to take part in celebrating

By Kat Bauman - Nov 08, 2016

A Softer, Lighter Solution To The Open Office

The AK2 divider

While we all know it looks nice, an open floor plan office can destroy productivity and creativity. But once you've invested in that mega modern wall-free loft office, you have to make the best of it. The AK2 Workspace Divider Lamp was designed by Uli Budde and Ivan Kasner for

By Allison Fonder - Oct 17, 2016

Lighting the Way to the End of Incandescent Bulbs

Plumen's new 003 lightbulb

For over 137 years, the humble incandescent lightbulb has been the gold standard for indoor lighting. The original electric lighting source has preserved its place in our lives not only for its functional value, but also its particularly captivating luminescence. Despite new lighting options on the market including halogen and

By Jennifer Rittner - Sep 29, 2016

Sponsored Post: What Would Nature Do?

Danielle Trofe Urges Designers to Ask

Designers and consumers have an urgent challenge to confront in the current discussion around sustainability. How can we distinguish between goods which seem eco-friendly, but actually contribute to a culture of waste, and those that are truly green? Designer Danielle Trofe had to challenge herself to look at every aspect

By Emily Engle - Sep 22, 2016

How to Grow Objects With Mushroom Mycelium

A close look at growing planters from mushrooms with Danielle Trofe

We're already familiar with Danielle Trofe's Mush-Lume lighting collection and the concept of growing objects with mushroom mycelium. So why am I revisiting such a familiar process? Thanks to Trofe and Ecovative Design, I was able to learn the mushroom mycelium growth process myself. Here's what happened:

By Kat Bauman - Sep 07, 2016

A Planter Lamp That Won't Roast Your Greenery

This big glass orb gently spotlights your green thumb

Do you have a wistful digital folder of design concepts you wish were real? (Or is that just Pinterest?) Well, I do, and it's rare and satisfying to see things make it out of there and into the world. I've held onto a sexy beta photo of the Lightovo Milo

By Rain Noe - Aug 31, 2016

Laser-Etched Radial LED Lightbulbs

Yat Ming's URI bulbs exploit the material properties of acrylic to good effect

Invented before industrial design became an established profession, incandescent lightbulbs epitomize what would later become the field's mantra of "Form follows function." The wire filament provides the illumination, while the glass bulb is there to keep air out and prevent the filament from oxidizing. Though incandescents are now obsolete, both