Link: Modern craftsman lighting
FaulknerWorks is the brainchild of Truckee, California architect Greg Faulkner in partnership with Leo Burke, and Brian Hijos - a team which combines the skills of an architect, theatrical lighting designer, artistic metal fabricator, and electrical contractor. I dig their products which are basically extracted from the custom fixtures and hardware that Greg Faulkner has designed for his commissions over the years.
I almost worked for Faulkner Architects many years back when I lived at Tahoe... I was all fired up to work there until they told me what my salary would be... ahem. Anyway, what I like about Faulkner's work is the balance and contrast of the modern and the rustic. There is a hand-made feeling (obviously owing much to the American Arts and Crafts movement) yet with an aesthetic informed by modern and industrial design and materials. I would love to see an even more modern evolution of this design thread.
Link: FaulknerWorks
Designer: Greg Faulkner - Faulkner Architects
Ambient and spot lighting
The Spotnik XL is the second incarnation of the Spotnik lamp but in a larger scale. Inside the sphere is a dual-light source offering both spot and ambient lighting. Originally designed as a table lamp, this newer version of the Spotnik now towers above your space at over 6 feet tall.
Link: Spotnik xlThe Italian Lighting Company SLAMP, brings a 'bright smile' to anyone's home
The company has been established in 1994 and their lamp design is a result of international designers' creativity.
I remember walking pass SLAMP shops when I was still living and studying in Rome and, as a teen, thinking that there was something cheerful and happy about SLAMP lamps.
Even SLAMP describes their products' philosophy as:
...to create lamps with irony, innovation, and decorative appeal. Slamp lamps break loose from the traditional conservative and haphazard buyers, focusing its appeal on impulse purchasing, with considerable emotional appeal...Link: SLAMP
Organic Light Emiting Diodes
Every once in a while a new material really captures my imagination , and this OLED (Organic Light Emiting Diodes) technology being developed by GE is one for sure. Surface applications where back lighting is not possible... lit undulating, flowing surfaces... vehicle applications... not to mention the effeciency: up to four times better than an incandescent bulb.
GE announced this week that they are going to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next 3 years.
OLEDs are thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes, which illuminate when an electrical charge is applied. They represent the next evolution in lighting products. Their widespread design capabilities will provide an entirely different way for people to light their homes or businesses. Moreover, OLEDs have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance, while achieving at least the same quality of illumination found in traditional products in the marketplace today.
Two interesting videos demonstrate the product as it exists in development. The first (above) describes the product and how it is made (newspaper printing processes to create electronic devices!!). And the second after the jump demonstrates the physical properties and flexibility of the technology.
Link: GE Global Research
Link: From Edison's Desk - A Perspective on OLEDs
Update
Designer Charlie Davidson was kind enough to send us a pick of his Black-Light's recent appearance at Tokyo Design Tide that took place the other week (31st October - 5th November).
For those of you considering one of these sinister chaps, Charlie is currently selling them in England for £400.
Link: Charlie Davidson
Link: Tokyo Design Tide
Bringing darkness to 06
I know it's only mid-October, but i'd say it's time to start talking about what made our heads turn the most during 2006.
Hands down for me is designer Charlie Davidson's ominous lighting creation, Black-light. Fabricated from layers of black foil, this gem is like watching an explosion put on pause. You almost want to just stand there and make up your own sound effects while staring at this sculptural beauty.
Though we still have a couple of months left in the year to be impressed, i'm pretty confident this will still be tops for me.
Link: Charlie Davidson
Promoting togetherness
The OX Barstool from Canadian designer Adriean Koleric was designed with 2 objectives:
"One was to create a piece of furniture that when put in place had that feeling of a built-in / structural element within a particular environment. By placing several OX's in a row infront of a bar, one is creating an interior landscape that is simple enough not to overpower the room but rather add a clean and functional contribution.The OX Barstool is constructed of 1/2" MDF and can be ordered with a custom finish.The other and more important objective was to simply promote togetherness by providing the option of housing 2 patrons at once to either spark up a conversation about what they're sitting on or whatever else comes to mind."
In addition to the OX, Adriean has also instroduced the Monster Floor Lamp.
Contemporary Furniture Design Exhibit
THAW is one of the largest contemporary design exhibits in Western Canada, and will take place during The Works Art and Design Festival from June 23rd to July 5th, 2006. THAW 2006 is looking to showcase medium to large sized furniture, accessories and lighting designs.
The show is juried and curated by the Industrial Designers of Edmonton Association (IDEA), a group with which our very own Adriean is affiliated.
Deadline is April 1, 2006... no foolin'.
Link: THAW 2006 Call for submissions (pdf)
Link: IDEA
Glowing stones for indoors or out
These cool sculptural outdoor lights provide a nice soft glow... no need for a bunch of 150 watt flood lights on the patio, folks.
Created by Italian designers Marta Laudani & Marco Romanelli with Massimo Noceto, they look great clustered together or scattered along a pathway. Use them inside too if you like... the designers also have an indoor version made of opaque Murano glass called Stone of Glass, but the outdoor ones could be used indoors as well.
Made of durable, weather-tested polyethylene. Uses screw-in fluorescent bulb.
Design: Marta Laudani & Marco Romanelli with Massimo Noceto
Manufacturer: OLuce
Buy: Y Lighting
Via: Better Living Though Design
Also: Product Dose
Related: Bloom (L+L)
Omer Arbel Sheds Some New Light
Vancouver designer, Omer Arbel, was recently appointed as Creative Director for Bocci, a new Canadian Manufacturer of high design objects.
Instead of choosing a mid career, established designer for our creative director, we decided to choose someone up and coming who has not yet reached the peak of his career; that way our company can grow and develop along side our creative director’s career. We are getting in on the ground floor, so to speak. Omer Arbel was the perfect fit.Bocci will inaugurate the new collection with his 14 series cast glass pendants.
The 14 series is a family of low voltage lighting fixtures. The pendants are articulated seamed cast glass spheres with frosted cylindrical voids in them, which house halogen light fixtures. The pendants are designed to be clustered in groups - the effect being of many tiny candles encased in floating spheres of water. The light interacts with the imperfections / bubbles in the glass to make a visually rich halo of light around the piece.
Link: bocci
A Finnish design collective
This Finnish foursome of product designers originally met at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, and last year banded together to form a critical mass at design shows and the like.
Designers of the group are linked together by their desire to create honest and simple objects. Word Rehti is Finnish and means honest way of working and acting. Members of the group work as freelance designers both as individuals and as a group.Based in Helsinki, the collective is formed by Mikko Laakkonen, Aleksi Penttilä, Mika Tolvanen and Jari-Petri Voutilainen.
Link: Rehti
Via: Wallpaper
Link: Black+BlumRelated: Clip Lamp (L+L)
Energy efficient lighting solutions
We love getting tips. Especially when they are for such inventive and witty pieces like these light fixtures from Italian manufacturer Tecnodelta. Most of Tecnodelta's fixtures come in wall, floor, hanging, and table variations and Tecnodelta uses the most advanced technology in the production of its lighting devices – fibre optics, LEDs, electroluminescent sheets – in addition to the traditional technologies.
The Bahiana (2004, featured at right) is formed by two pieces of Murano glass held together with a pair of hooks and separated by the bulb socket.
Link: TECNODELTA [Thanks, Marcus!]
Creative lighting from Brooklyn
From the Brooklyn studio of designer Jeff Weiss comes lamps in both fluorescent and incandescent flavors. From what I can gather on the site, the incandescent lights are cast in gypsum cement and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The flourescent lights are a mixed variety with some cast from gypsum cement, while others are constructed from a mixture of fluorescent tubes, plaster, and clear resin. The Particle lamp, featured at right, features four eight inch circle lights cast in plaster sphere.
Link: Jeff Weiss Studio
A lamp from Down Under
Lamp shades are often kind of an afterthought. Well, what we mean is that they just sort of hover there with out any attention to the connection between the shade and the rest of the fixture. There is the kind where you screw on the little decorative doohickey to hold the shade on the bracket, and then there is the kind that clips directly on to the light bulb. These are just simple, yet not interesting, solutions to a "problem."
Now, we like simple solutions, and here's one by Melbourne designers Marcel Sigel and Alana di Giacomo. The blown glass shade is formed to the shape of the light bulb, and it simply sits on the bulb... it traces the bulb... and it also seems to poke a little bit of fun at the traditional lamp shade. The base of the lamp is nice as well, but in our opinion, the shade is quite elegant and is really the ticket here.
Designer: Zuii
Let there be light
Niche NYC is New York based (East Village) shop that recently introduced a line of hand-blown glass light fixtures.
Designed by Jeremy Pyles, the lights are available in colors such as smoke, dark grey, and amber. Prewired installation is required.
Link: Niche NYC
Contemporary Lighting and Lamps
Lighting and lamps from Austin based Kamelyon Design.
"Kamelyon Design is a design and manufacturing studio that specializes in custom handmade fixtures and shades. Brett Grinkmeyer formed Kamelyon Design in early 2000 to pursue his interest in furniture and lighting design. Kamelyon Design combines his skill as a designer and his passion for fine craftsmanship. The light sculptures have received acclaim not only for their unique designs, but also for their innovative construction. Mr. Grinkmeyer makes each one of the lamps by hand insuring the highest level of quality possible. The goal of Kamelyon Design is to break new ground and to create truly unique designs that stir the soul – designs that transcend fad or fashion."
Link: Kamelyon Design [Thanks, Brett!]
The Pefect Shape.
After we featured the Egg Bird Feeder back in June, we know you all ran out and got one. Well, guess what? Now, you can have the perfect accessory to complement your feeder.
J. Schatz has come up with not one but two lamps shaped just like your favorite bird feeder, a shade lamp and a nightlight.
Read a book next to an Egg Shade Lamp or lie in bed and stare at a ceiling full of stars with the Star Egg Nightlight. Available in nine colors and three exquisite finishes: Lush, Exotic and Crackle.We'll take a lush orange peel star nightlight, thanks. Speaking of eggs, a former graphic design instructor of mine once claimed that the egg was the "perfect shape." Thought you'd like to know.
Link: Egg Lamps
Related: Egg Bird Feeder
Another great example of reuse: recycled chopsticks.
While some might not consider these lights to be pure "modern" design, they are definitely eco-friendly and that's good enough for us. While living in China, Bryan Parks, the founder of Kwytza Kraft, wondered just how many single-use chopsticks were used in the country. Turns out, it's quite a lot:
Research showed that literally billions of single-use chopsticks were consumed annually. The more shocking revelation was that it took, by some estimates, 25 million trees and bamboo plants to support that resource waste. Was there an opportunity to use the chopsticks for other applications that would provide a consumer benefit while bringing awareness to the negative environmental impact of single-use chopsticks?With a virtually unlimited resource of chopsticks at his disposal, he began designing a collection of home accessories with "eastern aesthetics and western conservationism." Great work, Bryan!
Link: Kwytza Kraft
Series of adjustable light fixtures
We've seen this light fixture concept before, but we like the execution of design and the many configurations and mountings available in the Multi series by Prima Lighting.
Choices are seemingly unlimited with nine, six, four, three, and two light configurations available as wall sconce, pendant, floor or table lighting and many are compatible with cable and monorail systems. Available in silver or chrome finish.
Link: Prima Lighting
Light sconce
The power cord is often an afterthought when it comes to the design of electric devices... in fact the cords are often omitted from product photos. But this simple little light fixture turns the tables on this way of thinking making the cord a prominent feature of the design by placing it right out front.
Designer: Jakob Gebert
Link: Belux
Clip spot lamp
We've always liked the simple utility of binder clips (hmmm... maybe we need to do a "101 uses for the binder clip" blog someday). Anyway, here's one for the less is more category. We really dig this little fixture by Jonas Damon for Habitat that strips down the clip lamp to its bare essentials using the binder clip as inspiration (without being cutesy about it).
Designer: Jonas Damon Office for Design
Link: Habitat
Kinetic light fixture
This is the kind of thing we love, a product that is unique without trying too hard. Amsterdam based Tjepkema studio adds movement to a light fixture by using the heat generated by the bulbs. The concept is not new, but the execution here above and beyond.
Heat generated by halogen lights activates a propeller and thus movement in the Dancing Shades lamp. The lamp projects shadows on the wall that create the same type of relaxing and hypnotic atmosphere that reflections of moving water create.Unfortunately, this is a prototype and is not available for purchase at this time.
Link: Tjepkema studio
Creative ways for product design
Front Design is a four person design group based in Stockholm, Sweden. Their Fly Lamp (featured at right and below) was created using motion capture. This motion capture was then plotted and used as the basis for the lamp shade. They have several other fantastic products on their site as well. Vases cast from dog footprints in the snow; a lamp made from the mould of a rabbit hole; a lounge chair moulded from the hole of an explosion. Their work is some of the most creative that we've seen. Definitely drop by their site and take a look at the rest of their work.
Link: Front Design
I asked the guy, "why you so fly?"
"A funky luminescent wall panel made of matte acrylic. A wide variety of color blends are easily obtained by simply turning a switch. Two color assortments are included, each of them offering a numerous possibility of combinations. Available in square and rectanglular formats."
Link: Snowlab Design
Light fixture by Wonderwall
Simple, elegant, modern; such is the work of well known Tokyo based designer Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall. We really like the wonderfully straightforward yet fun design of this multi-purpose light fixture.
Customizable lighting fixture that allows original visuals and colors to be slid in between the acrylic boards.Designer: Wonderwall
Manufacturer: Daiko Electric Co.
Lighting from die-cut interlocking wood veneer and plastic
"dform products reflect an ongoing exploration of the manipulation of flat sheet materials into dynamic three dimensional forms. The result is lighting and screens made of interlocking die-cut wood veneer or plastic with layered surfaces of pattern and shadow."
dform has 6 base patterns that can be easily adapted to wall panels, folding screens, and room dividers. Custom patterns can also be created.
Link: dform design
Pendant lights from Eurofase
I'd hang a sentinel over my dining room table, though this design is a bit less menacing. We like the simple concept and the streamlined modern/industrial aesthetic of these light fixtures.
Modern direct/indirect pendants and sconces
Sleek light fixtures finished in premium automotive paint finishes with seamless construction. The "Aliente Family" line of fixtures is designed by Stefano Casciani was the winner of ALA 2002 Lighting for Tomorrow Contest. A new line designed by New York architects Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis (shown at right) is being introduced this year.
IVALO is committed to the great tradition of modernism and its powerful intuitions about future modes of living. By rigorous attention to the changing conditions of our fast-moving culture, new ways of living can be detected and accommodated through better design.Link: Ivalo Lighting
Designer: Stefano Casciani
Firm: Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis
Interactive lighting product using LED and pressure sensitive technology and advanced software
Jump back, Denny Terrio, put on those dancing shoes and flip on Gordon "Venus Flytrap" Simms... we're having disco flashbacks. C'mon... how cool was that dance floor in Saturday Night Fever?. Well, if you were a kid in the 70's like us then you probably thought it was cool. Anyway, that was just flashing lights, this is something different.
Lightspace has been used for nightclubs (of course), health clubs, stage lighting, fashion shows, etc., and can be used on floors, walls, countertops, etc. The sophisticated software is highly adaptable with an almost limitless variety of display effects and interactive programs.... this is not your one trick pony effects system.
Link: Lightspace
Halogen suspension light
Found over a Domus:
"In the Palio suspension lamp, bright halogen light is reflected from its glossy interior surface and is diffused by the bronze parallelepiped with gold reflections. Palio is suited for use as an individual lamp, but when in multiple compositions, it produces amazing effects. The shade is hung from a copper wire. Openings with staggered corners prevent glare."Designer: Ernst Strassacker
Link: Domus Web (registration req'd)
Nice style that is easy on the wallet
We like these simple glass pendant lamps from West Elm, purveyors of mix-and-match contemporary home furnishings and accessories. West Elm is kind of like a modern Pottery Barn... nothing that knocks your socks off, but when you are looking for clean contemporary design on a budget, it is nice to have some options.
Link: West Elm Oblong Glass Pendant
Link: West Elm Cone Glass Pendant
Minimalist light fixture
Interesting light design found over at Funfurde:
"The Low Volt Light from SuckUK is about as minimalist a design as you'll see. There's no shade and no on/off switch, just a bare bulb and two hoops of wire. Put the bulb in one hoop and it turns on, put it in the other and it turns off. (Okay, there are a few more parts, like a cord so you can plug it in and a shiny reflector plate. But that's it. Really.)"Via: Funfurde
Link: Suck UK
Do-it-yourself lamp shade made from your old slides: "Linked slides create a colorful indoor escape"
Check out this little project from ReadyMade magazine for an inexpensive and personalized lamp. We haven't tried it ourselves, but we think it looks pretty cool... and plus, we were looking for a weekend project.
Link: ReadyMade
Handmade plexiglass lamp
Designed by Berlin design studio Double Standards, this light fixture caught our eye for its use of color and material, and its object nature. Clearly this is not a reading lamp.
Double Standards is a multidisciplinary design studio producing a wide range of designs: lamps, interiors, print, film, etc.
Link: Double Standards
Distinctive patterned lampshades
Fun lampshades from UK designer Madeleine Rogers.
"In 2001, Madeleine Rogers left her career in art directing to start up her company mibo. Her intention was to create original, yet affordable interiors products. First off the press were the distinctive patterned lampshades, still a firm favourite, all bearing seaside inspired names and mibo’s now familiar bold colour palette."
Link: mibo
Lighted Wall Panels
Perfect for groovin' in your space age bachelor pad. The Space Panel is constructed of white fiberglass and features a fixture in the middle. Mount them on the ceiling next to your mirrors. They can also be ordered in custom colors. Groovy, baby.
Sensuous lighting from Fred Bould for Pablo
"Introducing Aura, a sensuous new lighting addition to the Pablo Collection by designer Fred Bould. The Aura's glowing shade appears to float freely, tethered by its gently coiled cordset tht exits out of a side portal. Aura is injection molded in clear tinted acrylic for optimal clarity and durability."
Designer: Fred Bould
Link: Pablo
Link: Nambé
Plastic package inspired lamp
The Blisterlamp by Dutch designer Henk Stallinga is made from two identical halves of transparent PET G which simply snap together. PET G is the typical polyethylene blister packaging material that encases so many products we buy, from toys to toothbrushes. Blister lamp may be used individually or as a cluster, standing or hung.
Bright Spot
Hanging lamp from moooi. Made from epoxy and fiberglass.
Available in 3 sizes:
- 50 cm
- 85 cm
- 105 cm
Available in white
Design: Monkey Boys, 2002
Link: moooi
Floating Lamp
FlapFlap - floating lampReinforced steel cable makes it look like it's floating in midair. A footswitch is mounted on the cable.
Via: Artbox Project
Design: Hopf & Wortmann, Germany
Adjustable hanging light fixture
You can not only adjust the height of this clever little light fixture by Swiss designers Caroline Felix and Valentin Brun, but also the length as well.
It's like one of those old adjustable coat racks from your grandmother's house, but the application of this common expanding system is just cool.
Link: Gopf Furniture