Cool Cube Light
Thursday, September 21st, 2006
This cube light from Freedom of Creation would look sweet in my living room. Well, actually it’d look better than most of the stuff in my living room, but I can live with that. According to the company, the Cube is “created to remind us of the architecture of products” and the interesting lamp is “developed to be a sculptural piece as much as a soft light.” (I just like it because it’s square.) The Cube lamp is about 8″ high and wide, and the light bulb gets installed in a hollow in the center that’s accessible from the bottom of the lamp.
Since it’s raining outside today, I thought I’d post about this Pablo Umbrella lamp that I found. It’s an interesting subject for a light. Available in a few different colors, the lamp is fully adjustable with a washable shade made to resemble, well, an umbrella. The base is made from iron and covered with a powder-coated silver. For this bit of table lamp whimsy, you’ll pay $110-$190 from Public Design, depending on the size of umbrella you need.
I’ll go out on a limb (or maybe a horn?) and say most people don’t think about horns as a potential lamp material when they go shopping for lighting. And yet, here it is. Though this lamp is a bit masculine for my tastes, I can see it going over well with some. It’s sort of a modern take on the rustic antler-inspired lamps you often see advertised in log home magazines. The measurements are 22″ x 12″ x 29.5″h, and the Fortuny Lamps piece is available from New York’s 
Even though I sometimes knock Home Depot for their selection of various items (I always enjoy going to specialty stores where for instance they just sell lighting and they have thousands of lighting options to choose from), I like this flexible blue track lighting system I found while browsing their site. It’s modern and stylish, and I want it (like so many things I write about here…). Called the Easylite Komet Flexible Track Light Kit, it costs $169 and comes with “5 fully directional track heads with 10 interchangeable shades (5 frosted white; 5 blue glass), 10 Ft. of bendable track, 105 watt transformer, MR16 shielded bulbs, mounting hardware and instructions.”
How do you fit 60 light bulbs into a chandelier? Well, you just cram them all in there and stick a $5,000 price tag on it (excuse me, the 60-Light Taraxacum 88 S Chandelier is actually only $4,622). That’s the way the folks over at Taraxacum do it anyway. 
Not everybody thinks of metal when they’re shopping for lamps to brighten their living rooms, but I like these copper lamps from Cobre. Copper is a lot warmer than other metals, so it doesn’t lend that cold industrial feel that stainless steel can give off. And the decorated velvet shade on this lamp just makes me want to touch it. It’s $405 though, so I better keep my fingers off. If you like copper furnishings, check out the company’s web site, because there are lots of hand-hammered offerings, such as sinks, rain chains, mirrors, vases, bowls, and even pillows (yup, pillows with copper entwined in the design).
I don’t know about you, but I usually associate terra cotta with floor tiles. Maybe pots. Mostly floor tiles. This is the first terra cotta lighting I’ve seen. I really dig this chandelier though. It captures that southwestern style that I remember from Arizona. Made by AmeriTech lighting, it’s one of several chandeliers with a similar flavor. You can see the others on the company’s web site at 
If you hate fumbling for the light switch when you enter a dark room, check out the Air Switch lamp from Mathmos. It’s completely switch-less. To turn it on, you just wave your hand over it. The company says it’s bright enough to read by, so it would make a good desk lamp. At $95, it’s pretty reasonably priced too. The only thing I wonder is if pet owners have to worry if a cat tail swishing through the air will turn it on. One would hate to pay extra on the utility bill because Garfield has been turning the lamp on and off all day…
Here’s another find from Ikea. This table lamp would certainly make a conversation piece (Say, what is that? Not sure, but there are bulbs on it, so we’re using it for lighting…). It’s as much sculpture as it is light fixture. Called the Stranne lamp, this mass of spaghetti strands will cost you $50 (that’s pretty high-end for an Ikea lamp). The strands are bendable so you can arrange them any way you like. I wouldn’t count on it outputting a whole lot of wattage, since the bulbs are pretty small and it’s advertised as “mood lighting.” Still, not bad if you like something a little exotic.
Murano Designer Lighting has a nice selection of unique, quality (read: expensive) lamps and chandeliers, and it’s always fun to browse through their site. I’m not sure about this one though. This chandelier reminds me more of a branch hanging from the ceiling with a trio of bird’s nests perched in its embrace. What do you think? Is that what they’re going for here? Or am I just seeing things? It does lend itself to a nice nature theme… 