Brooklyn-based Dan McMahon is an industrial designer with a sense of humor. "I designed a very serious object to be taken seriously," he writes of his Rise + Shine design. The object in question is a pneumatically-height-adjustable candleholder:

"Rise + Shine is a height-adjustable candleholder inspired by a collection of idiosyncratic 19th century candleholders at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA with the same function."

"The object is humorously direct in its evocation of arousal, a quality which came out of the mechanics-forward exploratory design process. By squeezing the rubber bulb, air pushes a candlestick up to the desired height. By twisting the release knob, the candle can drop down into the aluminum cylinder."

McMahon batch-produced a bunch of these for an exhibition; there are no production plans.