Form Plus Function

Vintage Edison Bulb

Many have asked us if the exposed-filament bulbs, reproductions of Thomas Alva Edison’s first light bulb will be available in a few years.

So far the answer is yes.
Because they don’t produce enough light they are considered specialty bulbs and are not included in the higher federal efficiency standards that gradually begin taking effect in 2012,

Aware of  the need to conserve energy, it is my recommendation to use these wonderfully warm vintage lights only as accents.
Use the more efficient light sources for the majority of the illumination for your home.

We will be adding more of these bulbs to our site in the next days at prices of around $10 each.

They actually last quite a while, and in my opinion are a low-cost way of adding ambience to a space, just like candles.

Follow our blog for more News from the Lighting Front. And never hesitate to contact us for answers to your lighting questions.

Madrid pendant by Tech Lighting

Tech Lighting is not just all about colorful glass.
Some of the newest introductions add felt, knits(!), and fabrics.

The Madrid pendant is one of the products that brings this new look to Tech Lighting.
This unique pendant has a glass globe  with a knit  cover that lends it an organic feel.
It and is available in a modern color palette.

The Zenith pendant from Tech Lighting is stunning, not only for its long, organically shaped form, but everything about it is unique: the colors (white, smoke, and now also a great steel blue) and the vertical stringers in the glass that add depth and dimension.

Two sizes are available.

Tech Lighting had a unique display at their Dallas showroom: A large cluster of Zenith pendants hung from a multi-port canopy.
They used both sizes and all three colors.  It looked fantastic!

A great way to create a unique replacement for a chandelier.

Tech Lighting Scania Track Head

Isn’t this a beauty?

I was so excited when the Scania track head was introduced by Tech Lighting.
The name alone of course makes me smile (since I am originally from Denmark), but it’s of course the sleek, elegant design that has me captivated.

Most track heads are just so incredibly dull. The Tech Lighting Scania  features an elegant slender head with a plated or matte painted finish. Black, Linen Satin Nickel – and as an added bonus: the  exquisite Burnt Sienna.

Modern Fan Co. Lapa Fan

Y Lighting Uses Form + Function Image in their Google Ads!
As much as the saying goes that imitation is a form of flattery,  this does not make me feel warm and fuzzy:  I just stumbled adross a Google ad from one of our competitors that uses a photo I created!!
We take great pride in the design of our site and I love adding photos I take myself all over the world.
I just feel that they add something new, especially when the manufacturers only provide us with product shots, but no location shots.
Or I browse through endless choices of stock photos to find the perfect images for a specific product, then buy them (which is not cheap!!) and have fun  photoshopping images that show the products in context.

It is sad to see  less creative competitors cut corners and just rip off your work!!

Stella Ceiling Fan by Modern Fan Co.

The Stella ceiling fan was designed by David Ellis for  the Modern Fan Co.
This contemporary fan is a beautiful combination of air management and superb ambient lighting.
The wood accents and blades add warmth and allows it to fit a large variety of locations.
The central glass cylinder is surrounded by maple or mahogany plywood rings. It is available with a dark bronze finish and the choice of black, maple or mahogany blades

Ingo Maurer Birdie's Busch

Finally there is a table version of the exuberant Birds Birds Birds fixture by Ingo Maurer.

Birdie’s Busch is approximately 90 cm high and is equipped with 7 low-voltage halogen bulbs.

I took this photo in the Ingo Maurer showroom in Munich two weeks ago when I visited my favorite place in Munich.

Recently we have gotten a lot of phone calls from people who have bought a specific LED light at a big box store and are having a lot of issues with it.
That product happens to have a name that is close to the name of our business.

All these calls plus lots and lots of calls from our customers have prompted me to write this post about the quality of the newer energy efficient lighting solutions.

Why are so many people unhappy with their compact fluorescent lamps and LEDs. Why do we hear complaint after complaint about colors being horrible?

Well, it’s unfortunately the old “You get what you pay for.”

Big-Box stores have tried to get customers to buy these new products that everyone is writing so much about (talk about advertising!) by providing them at roughly the same price as regular incandescent lamps (the term the lighting industry uses for bulbs.)
They have therefore flooded the market with cheap low quality CFLs and  LED lights.

In our showroom we constantly test various CFL lamps and LED PARs and MR-16s to be able to show our customers that you can indeed find high quality energy efficient lamps.  We have found several we can highly recommend and I hope to bring back even more when I return from Dallas Market next weekend.

Reading up on this issue this morning I stumbled across this excellent article in Fine Homebuilding, written by lighting guru Randall Whitehead.  I just love that man!
Low Energy Lighting, High Energy Design.

Enjoy!

Artemide has for years inspired with their concept of  “The Human Light.”

It is rare that an ad campaign gives me goosebumps, but last year’s  “There is Light on Earth” campaign by Artemide did just that when I read about it and saw the beautiful photos.

“ARTEMIDE launches the new international ad campaign “There is light on Earth”, conceived and implemented by La Scuola di Emanuele Pirella.
The concept “The Human Light,” which has been inspiring the entire world of ARTEMIDE for many years, is now the starting point for an ethical vision of light, like a spiritual energy at the service of ideals and of those that struggle to establish them all over the world.

Night and day.  Darkness and light. Ignorance and reason. Oppression and freedom. Opposites are at the focus of the new ad campaign of Artemide, whose messages and products have been concentrated, for many years now, on the concept of “Human Light” – a light respectful of people and of the environment through the use of new materials and new technologies.

This year Artemide launches six lamps created by seven “enlightened” designers: Carlotta de Bevilacqua, Giancarlo Fassina & Michele De Lucchi, Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, Karim Rashid, and Giuseppe Maria Scutellà. Six lamps that cast their soft light on six portraits of very well known, somewhat renowned, or unknown people, different but sharing something deep: a life spent, out of choice or of need, struggling to protect their own ideals – or their own existence.

Artemide Doride Floor Lamp

Artemide leads us through the halls of an ideal show, where light is opposed to darkness that tries to prevail over it and erase it. And where the portraits of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the Burmese politician and Nobel Laureate for Peace, still under house arrest, and of Ghesce Yesce Tobden, one of the most outstanding spiritual leaders of the Tibetan people, who spent most of his life in exile, hang on the walls (photo by Melina Mulas). Their intense faces add up to those of the children that survived the civil war in Sierra Leon (photo by Ugo Panella).

All these stories convey the same message – there is nothing more luminous than human life. As the title of each ad goes, “There is light on Earth”. Luckily.

The new Artemide ad campaign has been conceived and implemented by La Scuola di Emanuele Pirella.”
-Artemide News

Artemide Pirce Pendant