Electric slides

Our local reuse center always has bins of vintage slides. I've seen other slide lamps, but nothing so fantastic as this Film lamp by Davide Groppi. They use LED bulbs and can be linked up to form long, candy-colored strings of awesome (or black and white, depending on your choice of slides).

Images from Davide Groppi. Via This Is Colossal.

Tokio LED lighting

LED lights are finally coming into their own. Even IKEA has upgraded their offerings for 2012. The design challenge is to take advantage of the LED's smaller size without losing all the visual impact of a large fixture. 

I like the way Tokio has approached this, with carbon fiber spans connecting the LED spots. 

 Images from Tokio. Via NOTCOT.

Tomato-Powered Light?

Innovative lighting ideas from a showcase of Israeli design students at the Milan Furniture Fair. Some of the more interesting examples:

• Still Light: A light powered by tomatoes
• 97% Soap: A light made from soap, which would melt with a normal incandescent bulb.
• 100% Plastic: A light made with zero plastic manufacturing waste.

Many of these lighting ideas would be impossible without the advances in low-power, low-heat light bulbs, which allow the use of more delicate (and often more eco-friendly) materials.

Via TreeHugger.

Look ma, no wires!

Designer Christopher Moulder uses the structure of this shade to serve as the conductors for the series of low-voltage LEDs that ring around the perimeter. The technology and design allow for a clean design, with no wires needed to power the LEDs.

Image from Christopher Moulder. Thanks to NotCot for the tip.

Dimmable LED bulb from Sharp

Sharp is introducing a dimmable LED with "adjustable color function." The new bulb launches in July (in Japan). See two good write-ups, on EcoGeek and TreeHugger.

Image from TreeHugger

Finger Pointing: LED lighting in the NY Times

The NY Times has a great article on some of the early adopters of LED lighting, from Buckingham Palace to San Francisco. It's worth reading the whole article, here, which covers pros (cost of operation), cons (narrow light area), and estimated payback period with enough technical detail to elevate it above your usual fluff piece. Most interesting is the idea that conversion to LEDs would allow us to think of light fixtures (bulbs included) more like plumbing fixtures, where you install them once and don't think about them again for years.

On the local side, there are several LED street light experiments underway. You can check them out in person. There are a few demo units in front of PG&E on Beale, an elaborate (if dryly reported) lamp-off in the avenues to test drive different LED manufacturers, and a well-publicized effort to put smart LEDs in the Tenderloin.

Image from PG&E (Photo by Jon Manzo)

Future shock: Stunning solar lighting by Qnuru

Trees from the future

Detail

Images from Qnuru. Thanks to Re-Nest for the tip.

Technology: LED light bulb from Phillips

Soo sent in this in. The Master LED by Phillips will be available in the US this summer. It uses Luxeon LEDs and is designed specifically as a retrofit. Costs are predicted to be ~$50+. Bonus style points for those lovely fins!

Thanks to Gizmodo for the details, and see the Phillips website for technical specs.

Image from Phillips

Finger Pointing: MIO Trask LED lighting

The flat-pack masters over at MIO are very good at making flat things 3D and making 3D things flat. Their new line of Trask lighting is flat-packed, customizable, and uses LEDs. It's a win-win-win!


Thanks to Apartment Therapy for the tip. Images from MIO