Wonsuk Cho

MoCo Loco posted about Wonsuk Cho's gorgeous X-Ray Lights - I love them! His X-Ray Lights take the iconic fixtures and make them the lamp shades. Beautiful.

Equally lovely are Wonsuk's Book Hangers, which add a little pleasure to every day storage - conveniently arranging the books you are reading in an orderly way - even allowing you to bookmark your place when you put the book away for the day.

Luis Eslava Studio

Luis Eslava used Velcro to create the shade for his Face to Face pendant. The shade is infinitely reconfigurable by the user.

Christian Flindt

Christian Flindt is a Danish designer with a gorgeous portfolio of work. I love the delicacy of his Flindt lights and the ingenuity of his colorful Parts of a Rainbow chair - "the worlds first sidestacker".

Viable London

I came across Viable London on Designboom yesterday and am loving their work. They are debuting a new line of sustainable products at this year's London Design Festival. Slat Shelf is made of sustainably harvested pine and the Spiral Stools of cork, felt and wool.

Benjamin Hubert - 100% Futures

Benjamin Hubert sent over his new product lines, set to debut at 100% Futures in London in a few weeks. My favorite is his Labware lamp series which are inspired by laboratory beakers, and showcase the purity of glass blowing through the range of large, geometric glass lamps. Furthering the laboratory idea, each lamp comes with a Portuguese bark topped cork.



The Diamond Chair seems inspired by the Eames' fiberglass shell chairs, but has the surprising detail of an upholstered fabric seat.



Benjamin used thin walled concrete to make his Heavy Lights. I like the playful practicality of the ceramic Yumbrella bowl and banana tree

Benjamin Hubert

Saw some new work up at Benjamin Hubert's website. I love the Impression Crockery - a soup bowl that was formed from a single surface with an impression for the spoon holder. Equally nice is the Foam Twist Light - a floor lamp made from re-purposed medical packaging waste and acrylic.

Light Calligraphy by Julien Breton

Julien's light calligraphy is simply beautiful. The contrast of the fluidity of movement and the implied control necessary to control the light source is very inspiring. I especially like the image on the left, which shifts out of the two-dimensional and creates a radial space for the writing.

Graypants Cardboard Scraplights

These Cardboard Scraplights by Graypants have made the blog rounds, but they are way too gorgeous not to be posted here. The corrugated cardboard is supposedly taken from scraps leftover from previous projects. The corrugation allows light to leak out and creates really gorgeous patterns on the wall.

Refined Sugar Studio

In the midst of the NSS chaos, I did get the chance to run through the ICFF for an hour. I grabbed a few business cards from the booths that immediately caught my eye, and Refined Sugar Studio was one of them. Cheeky and fun, the products are either limited edition functional pieces, or one-of-a-kind works of design art. Refined Sugar's tag line is "Sweet Designs for Living", and I think their work fits the bill. My two favorites: the Eat Me Dining Table, a reclaimed claw-and-ball foot dining table with a scrolling LED screen. Variations on the word "Meat" scroll across the table - "Eat Me", "Eat Meat", "Fat Me"...I also loved the Refined Cereal light fixture - all of your favorite childhood cereals illuminated in this one light fixture.

DesignCode

DesignCode makes colorful light fixtures and screen systems. I love the Flamp Noir - a box containing the silhouette of the iconic lamp.

Sarah Van Gameren

I've seen Sarah Van Gameren's work quite a bit over the past few months without knowing that it was hers. I finally came across her Family Tree necklace on Pan-Dan and had to check her website out, which is when I made the connection between Sarah and all these other great projects I've been admiring around the web. Her Family Tree project seeks to represent the lineage of a young client named Runa, and draws its inspiration from 'name-jewel' necklaces.

Some of the other projects I've been admiring: Burn Burn Burn, where Sarah has created a type of paint that can be burned to create a permanent mark on a surface, and the Big Dipper - wax chandeliers that will create an ephemeral, changing light fixture.

PS. Thanks to Desire to Inspire and MSNBC's Clicked for the blog mentions - and hi to all of you who are coming from there!

Yuriko Takahashi

I love the coverage of the Stockholm Furniture Fair over at Designboom. Yuriko Takahashi's work caught my eye - she has some very nice bent wood furniture, and some amazing light fixtures. The lights have shades made of wood veneer and cloth which are connected with zippers.

Via Designboom. Photos via Designboom.

IKEA sneak peak

IKEA sent us a sneak peak of some products to come this April - here are our favorites:

The KNUBBIG table lamp by Michiko Nakata (above), with floral graphics on clear and frosted glass spheres. We love the bright colors of the GUNVOR fabric by Anna Salander (bottom left) and the very sweet BARNSLIG cushion by Maria Vinka - a pillow for keeping your hands and feet warm. The design and colors of the cushion remind me of kids pajamas.

Kirsten Hassenfeld

Kirsten Hassenfeld is a Brooklyn-based artist who works with paper, creating super detailed, sculptural light objects. Her Dans la Lune exhibit just closed at Rice University's Rice Gallery, but I thought it was worth a mention here. Dans la Lune is a French idiom that references daydreaming, which is a great description of Kirsten's over-the-top sculptures of imagined opulence. From a distance her sculptures look like chains of gems and crystals, but as you get closer, detailed images emerge.

Lama Concept

Yvonne Laurysen of Lama is a Dutch designer focussed mainly on textiles. I came across her website today, and was really impressed by her felt rugs, each of which is created by cutting and assembling pressed industrial wool felt. The felt slices are randomly assembled, allowing for a natural pattern to emerge.

Lama makes furniture, too - check out the Loft light and the Sinus table and chair set.

Johanna Lindgren

2008! Can you believe it? I hope you all had a great holiday and new year and are rested up and ready for 2008!

Getting right back to it...Johanna Lindgren is a Swedish designer who works mainly with textiles (both making textile prints, and using textiles in innovative ways in her products). The P.O.C. light would be awesome in a commercial space somewhere as an alternative to a chandelier...Johanna has also experimented with wall textiles and screens (the light and top screen in collaboration with Helen Högberg). My favorite is the Slinga (bottom right). Made of industrial felt, it's a nice alternative to wallpaper or bare walls!

Hung Ming Chen

Hung Ming Chen is a young designer from Sweden with a few lovely products. I think the bird light is fantastic - it can be clipped on to an existing light bulb and instantly create some visual interest in a room. Also very clever was his trash can - simply two wooden pieces with built-in clips - slot them together and create an instant trash can. More work is available on his website, Hommin.

Via Style Files.

Bertjan Pot

I saw Bertjan Pot's Non-Random Light over at Style Files and had to post it here. I'm sure you're familiar with his Random Light, which he designed in 2002 for MOOOI. Both are made from epoxy drained fiberglass. Check out his website for other smart products, such as the lights made from halved fruits and vegetables. I'm not sure how the fruit was preserved (maybe resin?), but it sure looks cool!

Marieke Rongen

Marieke Rongen is a young Dutch designer who makes some gorgeous light fixtures! She plays with texture on the inside of the lamp shade, as well as with unconventional materials like concrete and copper.

The chair below is called Wear Memory and references your grandmother's doilies. It looks to me like the silhouette of the doily is burned into the chair, but I'm not sure from the image.



Via Bloesem.

Afroditi Krassa

There's not a lot of text (read: none!) on Afroditi Krassa's website, which leaves me to my own devices and wanting more information. Her products are sassy and beautiful. I would love to hang one of her "Bright Lights" (top) in my living room...

Form Us with Love

The chord is often the most unsightly part of a lamp. The Chord Lamp by the young Swedish firm, Form Us with Love, takes the chord and integrates it into the design. Use it with a funky bulb, and you have a beautiful fixture. Also very nice is the SwopIt, an acrylic side table that comes apart so that you can change the textile swatch sandwiched between the two acrylic pieces.

Boiler

Design firm Boiler has created some beautiful light fixtures that are inspired by plant-life, in both form and function. The fixture to the left (untitled) casts beautiful shadows through its flower-like symmetry. The Protea (right) mimics thermo tropic plants - the individual pieces of the lamp shade move away from the bulb when it's hot, and close in on the bulb as it cools down. The result is a very dynamic light fixture.

Tunto

Tunto/Mikko Kärkkäinen is a very impressive Finnish designer. It was hard for me to choose just a few products to showcase, but I did my best! What I like most about Tunto's products are the urban graphics and bright colors that permeate their collection of work.

The Hoover lamp is a gorgeous fixture, and I love how the base seems to be sitting on the floor with you. The packaging is awesome, too, with the lamp shade just peeking out over the side.

The M3 is a seat/storage unit, which is great for people like us who have tiny apartments and need all the storage we can get.

Below is the Vuokko table which I like for its simplicity and also for the splash of color on the underside. It's available in many pretty colors!



Via Design This Design That.

Tom Dixon - Trafalgar Square Great Light Giveaway

All of you lucky Londoners out there need to head over to Trafalgar Square this coming Wednesday at 5PM, as Tom Dixon is supposedly giving away 1,000 of his Blow lights on a first come first serve basis. Sounds pretty awesome! He's created a chandelier out of the Blow lights in front of the National Gallery. I don't really love the installation, but maybe it's nicer in person than it is in photo.

Benjamin Hubert

Came across Benjamin Hubert on Design*Sponge and Notcot.com and had to post about his Dandilight. I like this in a pendant version best.

Heinrich Fiedeler

Love the Drop fixture by Heinrich Fiedeler for Anta which looks like a glass-encased light bulb. Elegant and simple!

Guillaume Delvigne

The Lampe (72dpi, 144dpi, 300dpi) by Guillaume Delvigne for Industreal is a study in pixelation. The lamp comes in three versions, ranging from "high resolution" to "low resolution".

Via Style Files.

Yoyo Floor Lamp

The yoyo was one of my favorite toys as a child. I spent hours trying to make my yoyo do tricks. The Yoyo Floor Lamp does the greatest trick of all by solving all of your hard-to-light issues. It comes with a long, 16m cable, so you can light an area that is far away from an outlet. The Yoyo Floor Lamp was designed by Catarina von Martèrn and Lisa Landström and manufactured by Elmar Flötotto.

Seen over at Aquire.

Malin Lundmark

Here is a way for you to personalize your furniture. You can decorate your pendant lamp with your favorite necklace, or you can hang your necklace on a shelf that reinterprets "intarsia", an Italian building tradition where a decorative pattern is inlaid into a surface. Malin Lundmark's website doesn't seem to be working, so I unfortunately can't find much information on her. I'd love to know more about Malin's work, so if anyone has any leads, let me know!

Ample Sample

I don't remember where I first saw this, but Ample Sample was a brilliant contest where industry professionals were asked to upcycle the carpet samples they had sitting in their offices. Some beautiful products resulted. My favorites were the Mag "Daddy" Caddy by David Shor and The Loop Bench (though I would have covered the sides, and just exposed the tops of the carpet samples) by James Seaman. The light fixture above unfortunately doesn't get credited on the website, but I like it!

Tal Gur

I got an email this morning about an interesting exhibit of Tal Gur's work at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The artist's statement:

The exhibition space contains several objects which reflect a laborious production process: "Reading" tables, "Alata" light fixtures, "Mesh" chairs, and a "Bamboo" partition. The objects, with their entire range of materiality, sprawl, outline their course in the space, dissolve mass, allowing a glance through― through the object, the place, the space.

If you are in Tel Aviv, you can check out the exhibit from June 14 to September, 2007.

Thanks, Tal!

BCXSY

This is the coolest swing ever. It doubles as an outdoor light and would make you the most popular kid in the neighborhood. The Swing Lamp comes from BCXSY's Play! collection.


Via MocoLoco.

Kyouei Design

Innovative light fixtures from Kyouei Design - the Balloon Lamp is exactly what the name indicates - a lamp made from balloons and LEDs. The Honeycomb lamp is made from denguri paper. It seems like this honeycomb paper technique has jumped from bad party decorations to product design - think Molo Design's Soft line, these paper vases...Can anyone think of other products made in this way?

Emiliano Godoy

I like the rough and playful aesthetic of the Spot Jamming chairs by Emiliano Godoy and Alejandro Castro.

Emiliano's Sangre table was fabricated for a fundraising event held by Lacoste in Mexico City. Forty artists were invited to participate by producing pieces that were put up for auction. I love how the crocodile skin texture appears when the table is illuminated.

MIO

Here's some more felt for you. The Shroom Light by MIO is very nice looking, though it would be great if the cord weren't so visible. I like the fixture best when it is in the company of others.

Bodo Sperlein

Some more beautiful but unaffordable work from Bodo Sperlein.

Via inredningsbloggen.

ICFF - Lighting Finale

Finally, some old favorites (clockwise from top left): Holger Strøm's IQ light, Bocci, and dform.

ICFF - Tazana

Maybe I'm biased (I lived in Thailand for four years), but I really thought that the Thai companies produced some great work. My favorites include Tazana, who made the fixtures above. The ornate shades cast very beautiful shadows.

ICFF - Luzifer Lamps

Luzifer Lamps was one of my favorite booths at ICFF. Their fixtures are made with a wood veneer that is molded into gorgeous, sculptural forms. I love how the light shines through the wood to reveal its grain.

ICFF - La Murrina - Medusa Lamp

The Medusa by La Murrina, is a huge 55" diameter hanging fixture that really commands your attention in the room. Its waving glass tentacles reach out and illuminate the space from the suspended position. Given our liking of sea creatures, this fixture would be a perfect fit in our home, if it were only big enough to fit it.

ICFF - Le Klint - Under Cover

The Under Cover light from Le Klint is a great series of fixtures that lets you change the pattern of the interior shade whenever you want. The shell comes in acrylic or glass and the shade is made of plastic. There are 50+ shades available, even some from Marimekko. And the shades can overlap, layer on layer, to create new and more complex patterns. And I am sure you can print your own patterns at home. It is the ultimate home accent for those who have short design attention spans.

ICFF - Ango

I've seen Ango's work online numerous times, but this was the first time I got to see the fixtures in person, and Ango did not disappoint! The light to the left is made out of hundreds of empty silk cocoons, which have been gathered by Thai farmers. Equally beautiful is the hanging lamp to the right.

ICFF - RISD student work

I was impressed by some of the student work presented by the Department of Furniture Design at RISD in a collection called "Crystallized". Each student worked with Swarovski elements. My favorites included Annika Schmidt's Ice Branches chandelier, and Kallie Weinkle's Winged Chandelier.

ICFF - Lighting

Sean and I are dedicating the next few days to highlighting the best of this year's ICFF. There was some great work on display, especially in the lighting category. As an architect, finding good light fixtures can be a really difficult job (there just aren't that many!). I was really impressed with what I saw this weekend. Just an overview (clockwise from top left):

A brooding fixture from Josh Urso Design. Josh creates furniture and lighting fixtures with resin impregnated materials. The Puff light is available in sizes ranging from 9" to 10' in diameter.

Ridgley Studio Works creates lights using the gabion wall system. Interesting!

David Trubridge's Squirt and Twist lights.

Loved the REi Huggable pillow lights by Diana Lin. They are made of silicone rubber and are lit by LEDs.

A creative use of netting by Suhyun Hwang. The Lemon Tree and Orange Tree fixtures, each made with hand folded colored netting.

An old favorite of mine - Niche Modern. Always gorgeous fixtures.

Paul Isabella

Paul Isabella wrote to us about his "el credenza", which is both a piece of furniture and a light fixture. You move the lamp around the top of the credenza by inserting it into a grid of holes. Certain holes turn the lamp on, others turn it off. A memory game, of sorts! Paul is a furniture design major at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Round Up

Last but not least from our BKLYN DESIGNS faves, check out this beautiful desk by Elucidesign and some funky lights from SSD. I think the "Childhood Memories" fixtures would look great in a kid's room.

There were two other exhibitors that I loved, but my pictures just don't do their work justice, so I will point you towards other bloggers who covered them:

Platform via Design*Sponge.
Brave Space via Inhabitat.

BKLYN DESIGNS

Stay tuned Monday for our favorite picks from BKLYN DESIGNS. I browsed the exhibits earlier today, and there were some familiar faces and a lot of new ones. 2007 is the five year anniversary of BKLYN DESIGNS with a great cross-section of Brooklyn designers exhibiting.

Tove Adman

I really love Tove Adman's work. So gorgeous. I am predisposed to concrete anyway, but I especially like it when it turns up in unexpected places. Candlesticks and light fixtures from Tove Adman. She has a bunch of other products on her website, but these were my favorites.

Via Another Shade of Grey.

Ingo Maurer

I love the Birds Birds Birds chandelier from Ingo Maurer, it's beyond cute! The interactive component to the fixture is cool - you bend the wires to shape your own chandelier. The feathers used are from real geese, and at $5,030 per fixture, it's ridiculously expensive.

For another innovative light fixture from Ingo Maurer, check out Inhabitat's post about his display at Milan 2007.

Lights Up!

I like these fixtures from Lights Up!. They come with a bunch of different shade options (some fabric swatches are shown above). I couldn't find a website for Lights Up!, but you can find these fixtures and others by Lights Up! at Design Public, 2 Modern and Velocity.

UPDATE 10.20.08: Website for Lights Up! here.

Via Bell Pepper Design.

Massimo Barbierato

The light, simply called Tube, was a collaboration between Massimo Barbierato and Francesco Tencalla. I like the simplicity - basically a flourescent tube covered with maple veneer. The light exposes the grain of the wood.

Tavoli, also made by Massimo Barbierato is a table that is made up of many strips of wood. The strips aren't glued together, and by repositioning the supports, you can adjust the shape of the table.

Michael Kersch

Some interesting projects by Michael Kersch. The pendant above is made of approximately three thousand zip ties.

Besides the fact that the vase has a very appealing shape, I love that you can see the layers of dirt and the flowers growing, as if you had taken a section cut through the ground.

Illu Stration

It seems like felt is becoming the material of choice these days. Mary-Ann Williams of Illu Stration specializes in felt objects (hats, rugs, jewelry, etc). I really like the pendant light - it's so soft (literally and visually).

Edouard Larmaraud

I like this ring. I might have had to kill Sean if I was given this as my engagement ring, but I think it's very clever. Designed by Edouard Larmaraud and called the Trompe L'Oeil Ring, it comes with a tiny diamond and a crystal magnifying glass.

I also like this lamp by Edouard. When it's off, it folds up and sits neatly on your desk, and when you open and reposition it, the lamp lights up. Nice!

Luau Light by Vessel

Vessel makes the portable/rechargeable Candela lights that you may have seen in a lot of stores in the past two years. They recently released the Luau light which builds on the idea by adding size and dimming to the fixture, making it all the more useful.

Mobelform

I love this couch/bunk bed from Mobelform. It's so much better than the old fold-out couch! I'm very attracted to the lights below, too, though I can't decide if I like or dislike the seaweed-esque fixture. Grabs my attention at any rate.

The Design Can

Brooklyn-based Jeannie Choe and Steven Tomlinson of The Design Can are producing some interesting work! I remember seeing their Self-Portrait Mirrors around a while back...Love the idea behind the Self-Destructo candle - it comes with an LED on one end and a wick on the other. When you get tired of looking at the LED light, you flip the candle over and light the wick and the candle eventually self-destructs. I'm also a big fan of the Aorta vase...

Damian O'Sullivan

Normally I think that almost anything solar powered is really ugly, but Damian O'Sullivan's Solar Lampion doesn't fall into that category. I love how it's reminiscent of a paper lantern, and how you can leave it outside to store up sunlight, and then bring it indoors later for a lovely night lantern.

Sternform

You've probably seen this ceramic set by Sternform on a few other blogs (thanks Core77!), but I thought it was worth mentioning here...I like that it's modular and that it creates a nice pattern on your dinner table.

I also love these Tango lamps by Sternform. The Tango lights are flexible and can be reconfigured to cast light whichever way you want.

Smoge

Smoge has a very interesting series of lights displayed at IMM Cologne this year - the fixtures have adjustable shades, so you can decide if you want to uplight or if you want to downlight. Two fixtures in one - clever!

Via Charles & Marie.

Bocci

I am dying to use these in one of my projects at work...I love these pendant lights from Bocci - they look like balls of ice, and I love the imperfections. I'm curious, though, as to how you change the bulb if you need to...

Chris Kabel - Sticky Lamp

Happy Martin Luther King Day! I hope you all get the day off...I didn't, but took it as my floating bank holiday anyway...

Anyway, check out these "Sticky Lamps" from Chris Kabel...You peel off the back and stick the light wherever you want on the wall! Very cool - I even like the fact that you see the cord...it's sort of like a bunch of light bugs or light flowers growing up your wall...

Sandra Haischberger

Gosh! I wish I spoke German, so that I could understand Sandra Haischberger's website. Her work is beautiful, though, and speaks for itself.

Stelton Lamps

Stelton is a Danish design studio founded in 1960. They produce very clean and modern housewares such as the Ship Lamp (left) and the Table Lamp (right). All of the Stelton objects are striking in their simplicity and thoughtfulness of form. The trait linking the entire Stelton line is the use of stainless steel in nearly all of their products, from moneyclips to coffee pots.

Resin Lamp

Interesting lamp made from resin by a chemical company (!), Asahi Kasei.

Via MocoLoco.

Farm Designs

A cardboard lamp from Giles Miller of Farm Designs. I love the process (called fluting) he uses to bring out a design from within the cardboard. Fluting involves alternating the angle of the corrugation in a piece of cardboard to produce varied designs and patterns on its surface.

Via Inhabitat.

Element Design

This is dorky, ridiculous, and cool all at the same time. A lamp by Austrian design duo Element made out of sun glasses. I like the shadows that it makes.

Via NotCot.

New Year's Eve

The Taraxcum '88 suspension lamp is a 60-bulb light fixture that looks sort of like the Swarovski ball that drops at Times Square every New Year's Eve. All you need to complete the show is a bobblehead of Dick Clark.

The lamp was designed by Achille Castiglioni and is carried at Moss in NYC.

Columbia Glassworks

That's one nice looking chandelier. Columbia Glassworks was formed in 1996 in London, England, by glassmaker Edward Nevill and furniture designer Nick Blackmore. Their work goes beyond glass objects and fixtures - in 2000 they created glass corsets and headpieces for Alexander McQueen's catwalk show.

Ryan Frank

This chair was made from a single sheet of birch plywood. It is put together without any adhesives (though they use screws to make connections). Ryan Frank is a South African designer currently based in London.

I don't know why I like these, but I just do. Loot lights:

Thelermont Hupton

While I would never buy this, I like the playfulness of the light fixture. Ah, gone are the days of fairs and balloon sculptures. Designed by Thelermont Hupton.

Two Create

Two Create is a London-based duo: Lucy Nunn and Tobie Snowdowne. They are a multi-disciplinary studio specializing in print and product design, though I think their best work falls within the 3-d design category.

Niche Modern

I really love Niche Modern's take on the light bulb. Their pendant lamps are gorgeous. Each piece is made of hand-blown glass. If only I had $650 to buy one.