blog:proleno

At Stockholm Furniture Fair 2010 (Feb 9^th to 13^th 2010), Wästberg launches a lighting fixture developed in collaboration with French designer Inga Sempé.

This elementary lamp is meant to be as simple and solid as a nail or a push pin. As with traditional tool machine lighting, the mechanics are sturdy and long-lasting, with the aim of improving classical industrial elements: the clamp is inverted to offer a better way of using it.

The lamp mixes solidity and lightness: a thin beam joins the two opposite pieces of the lamp: the heavy cast foot to a delicate shade.

The lamp, called Sempé, features an LED solution, hand spun aluminum shade and steel beam, clamp or base in cast iron.

Lift your spirits with the Daylight Biobulb!

This time of year is not the most pleasant for everyone. The cold weather, long nights and dark mornings makes many of us feel low but the winter blues can often be a sign of a physical problem that affects millions of people every year.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a genuine mood disorder that many people suffer from during the winter months.

These seasonal mood variations are believed to be light related. Light, as we know, is essential for human health. Not only does sunlight help us produce vitamin D but it also appears to affect our mood and internal rhythms – such as our body clock.

Normal light-bulbs do not produce the same type of light that daylight does. The Daylight Biobulb produces a more natural light that can go a long way to lift the depression that affects so many people during the winter months.

The natural daylight producing bulb gives off three times the amount of natural light, or lumens, that conventional bulbs do. But this high output doesn’t mean they are not environmentally friendly, the Biobulbs are only 25W and work in a similar fashion to energy saving light bulbs – lasting for over 10,000 hours.

And even if Seasonal Affective Disorder doesn’t affect you, having a natural light source can improve mood, prevent headaches and give a more natural, softer feeling to your home in the evening.

Avaialble from Greenstamp at www.greenstamp.co.uk or call 01637 854717

Candles and Christmas go together like…, well, candles and Christmas.

Perhaps because it is a light that is both alive and natural, a candle in a room or near a window is all it takes to lift the gloom of a winter’s day. Suddenly, dark December is transformed into jovial Yuletide by the welcoming flicker of candlelight.

Braybrook & Britten make candlesticks and candelabra using sterling silver. From traditional to modern (their designs have been exhibited at Goldsmith’s Hall) a good pair of silver candlesticks is one of those rare gifts that is practical, beautiful and totally unisex.

A centrepiece for dining. An example of contemporary British decorative arts. A family heirloom. A symbol of life.

Hallmarked British Designer Silver Candlesticks & Holders from £89 to £3,000

More details can be found at www.braybrook.co.uk

Terry De Havilland is the ultimate Rock & Roll shoe designer. His haute couture shoes are lusted after; they are desired. They adorn the feet of beautiful women. They demand to be presented to the world on a pedestal, as they are, timeless works of art. Fiona Gall also loves De Havilland’s shoes and in their honour created this fantastical chandelier ‘Cinderella’s Revenge’.

Fiona, designer of the Emerald Faerie bespoke lighting collections, has now created a chandelier that encapsulates the luxury, glamour, customized finish and detail inherent in both her and De Havilland’s bespoke creations. ‘Cinderella’s Revenge’ reinterprets the design of his shoes echoing and celebrating the glamour of the fabrics and adornments, the shape of the 7-inch heels, and the very tools used to make them. It amplifies their theatrical presence.

Inspired by this extravagant homage, De Havilland returned the compliment and designed a pair of shoes especially for Cinderella’s Revenge. With heels and bespoke leatherwork in gold & silver iguana skin, these shoes now form the apex of the chandelier. Suspended beneath the crown, the spotlit shoes hang surrounded by a curtain of tubular glass, metallic chain, Swarovski crystal, and other carefully crafted details. Miniature magnifying glasses add an Alice-in-Wonderland playfulness allowing viewers to take a closer look, admire the craftsmanship, the signature metalwork with an 8-ft drop and fibre optic illumination. The chandelier is a towering altar to the love of shoes. Its tubular glass fringes cause light to subtly fade amidst a trail of luxuriously covered heels, all elegantly trailing along the floor.

Canadian Éric Sauvé brings us his Broken Glass Chandelier. With an 80cms diameter it appears to be available in either green or clear glass. I can’t find any price details but further information can be found at his website along with his contact details.

Italian designer, Filippo Protasoni, introduces the Platone, an indirect wall uplighter. Manufactured in a matt white painted thermoplastic moulded shell with an aluminium reflector and metal wall support. Also available with a fluorescent fitting.

More details at http://www.prandina.it.

From Australian designer Marc Pascal comes the Orchid Light, a feature pendant/table/floor-standing light.

Inspired by sensuous orchid flowers, each flower is hand dyed sometimes up to three different times, layering the colours in surprising and unexpected ways. Each light is made to order in any colour combination you choose!

More details can be found at Marc’s website.

London based designer, Juyoung Kim, brings us Lasen, an energy saving lamp with a difference.

When you wind the spiral spring, the light comes on, and when the spring runs down, the light will go off. As we all know, saving energy is today’s hot topic, but just using less hardware, and subsequently power, is not the only way!

This interactive light, inspired by a clock and manufactured in a combination of plastic and aluminium, evokes the user to perceive a sense of consuming electricity and hopefully prevent wasted energy.

More details can be found at Juyoung Kim’s website.

So green even the shades are green!

Lighting design group and retailer Skinflint is set to launch reclaimed factory light shades from now-defunct UK lighting manufacturer Revo. The enamelled green and white shades are 46cms in diameter and cost £195 each.

In the right space they will be statement lights for sure!

Quite unexpectedly, a new resistance movement – “Save the light bulb!” – saw the light of the day at the FutureDesignDays Light Now conference 2009. The speakers – Ingo Maurer, Paul Cocksedge and Moritz Waldemeyer, along with the panel, consisting of Monica Förster, Sandra Edberg and Rikard Eduards – and a very enthusiastic audience defended the incandescent light bulb, which is now threatened with extinction. As Ingo Maurer said about the ugly low-energy bulbs: ”Nice engineering, terrible light”.

What happens when light interacts with other materials? What happens when it passes through crystals, or gases, or liquids? What happens when a light source moves at speed, or is viewed in a mirror? These are the questions that inspire three of the most talented and pioneering lighting innovators of our time: Ingo Maurer, Paul Cocksedge and Moritz Waldemeyer. Each is more than a mere designer: their work crosses boundaries to embrace science, art, culture and business. None of these maestros is ever content simply to design another light fixture – they see each project as a chance to manipulate light in a new way, or discover a new property of this most mysterious of raw materials. Maurer, Cocksedge and Waldemeyer are true magicians of light, but they are also prophets, pointing to how lighting design will change in the future. At FutureDesignDays Light Now 2009, they discussed the latest trends, techniques and technologies that will affect the spaces we live and work in for years to come.

It goes without saying that climatic influence and sustainability gave rise to discussions at this year’s Light Now conference, as well as last year. But the challenging, the playful and the thought-provoking lighting design is definitely here to stay – of which moderator Marcus Fairs showed the audience some telling examples in his introduction; such as Pieke Bergman’s handcrafted crystal pieces ”Light Blubs”, Bruce Munro’s exterior installation ”Field of Light” and Peter Coffin’s UFO project. A very inspirational start of the conference, before the ”Poet of Light”, Ingo Maurer, took the stage.

“The incandescent light bulb; my first love”.

The audience was full of expectation to meet Ingo Maurer, who visited Stockholm for the first time, giving only his fourth speech throughout his whole career. Ingo Maurer took them back to childhood and day-dreaming; he often used to lie down in the grass, watching the sunlight shining through the crowns of the trees or being reflected in the water. The fascination of natural light and how it affects people is still an important driving force in his daily work. ”It is not the shape of anything that makes us feel good – or bad: it’s the light”, said Ingo Maurer with emphasis.

Thereof his love of the incandescent light bulb, now “living on borrowed time”. ”The traditional light bulb was my first love”, Ingo Maurer said – with a smile, but undoubtedly being serious.

To Maurer, the incandescent light bulb stands for something existential and deeply human; to ban it would be devastating. Maurer had, however, a trump card: A new prototype of a modern light bulb ”for our souls and well-being” has taken shape in his head.

On the whole, 75-year old Ingo Maurer would like to see more “sane insanity” on the design scene of today, which according to him has stagnated in its expression. To get inspiration he likes to visit the Burning Man in Nevada, USA. ”I wasn’t sure that I would survive my first visit there”, said our greatest lighting designer with a laugh, and left the stage.