designer lighting

i always spend countless hours during the move-in process (wether it be into my dorm at school, or back into my room at home) setting up my desk space. I will have my laptop, monitor, speakers, lamps, external hard drives, and various toys and figures all laid out around me, and i will be sitting on my chair at my empty desk - visualizing all the possibilities of where each item can potentially go. and after i decided on a configuration, i will be constantly moving things around slightly until i reach the perfect harmony of relationships between the location of each item on my desk (and every time it always ends up being almost exactly the same configuration as before!). lighting of course plays a very big role in this process. i am sure that is not only i that pays such attention to these things. lighting will make or break the mood of a room or space. what started as a necessity of a light due to visibility, has now turned into something that is much more based on aesthetics, mood, emotion and other personal attributes. The following examples of modern lighting show how far a lamp has come, from starting as a simple source of light, has taken on the attributes of a piece of furniture and decoration.

airswitch 1 by uk based, mathmos design is based on the design of a flask reminiscent high-school chemistry classrooms. passing your hand horizontally across the opening will activate/deactivate the lamp, and moving your hand vertically above the opening will dim and brighten the lamp.

the ed table by g. berchicci takes european furniture design to a new level with light. lights inside of the glass table illuminate the entire surface of the table as well as the support underneath, providing a new type of environment for dining or any other use you would have for this table. 

giuseppe colonna’s x cross consists of forty colored cubes of light, configurable to hang on a wall or lay flat on a horizontal surface. the range of colors is completely customizable, allowing each user to have an individually unique configuration. the x cross gives home lighting a new form.

carl mertens’ tabletop fireplace takes an ancient concept of an oil burning lamp and gives it a new appearance. taking on the configuration of wooden logs burning in a campfire, the tabletop fireplace adds a modern style to an old concept.

the fit lamp by giuseppe colonna consists of two interweaving cubes intersecting to add both light and color to a room. innovative form and customizability: two aspects that are becoming more and more apparent in modern lighting. the fit lamp is another example of the modern role of light - both as a source of illumination and as an expression of creativity and decoration.