Core77

The accurately, if mysteriously, named design studio Humans Since 1982 is the nom de guerre of a pair of European designers (again, accurately, if mysteriously) named Per and Bastian, who are currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. We've seen at least a couple of their designs in the past, and their latest project is perfectly in keeping with their highly conceptual approach to everyday objects.

Photo: Tim Meier

In the case of "Collection of Light," the concept is taxonomy and the object is a lamp. Each piece consists of upwards of 300 LEDs, arranged by size and type in (mostly) salvaged vitrines, as though each individual bulb is a specimen, subject to scientific study.

"Collection of light" is simply a collection of LEDs which together constitute a lamp in itself. The aim is to create an aura of a real collection (similar to a collection of insects) and expose each illuminant as a worthy industrial product. The LEDs are all labeled (with name, size and colour temperature) and arranged in a specific order to accomplish harmonic light.

Photo: Tim Meier

The largest version contains a selection of 300 LEDs and will be produced in a highly limited edition of three, while the collections of 90 and 150 are each available in an edition of ten. "For the 90 and 150 version we refurbished and reused original 70 year-old insect collection drawers from Museum of Natural History Stockholm (Naturhistoriska Museet)."

Photo: Tim Meier

The entomological allusion is somewhere between sort of entrancing to just short of enlightening: fireflies come to mind, yet the manmade LEDs preclude the prefix, taking the "bio" out of bioluminescence. Alternately, the overall effect is less like a lightbox and more like a fabricated relic of some long-forgotten 19th-Century pseudo-science.

Photo: Tim Meier

Of course, there's no denying that they're quite beautiful:

Photo: Tim Meier

"Collection of Light" is currently exhibited at Phillips de Pury, 45-47 Brook Street at Claridge's, London, where Humans Since 1982's " Surveillance Chandelier" is also on view.

Photo: Tim Meier