Halley, the outdoor light that glows like a comet

Spanish manufacturer Vibia is launching Halley, a lamp that shoots over that outdoor dining table like a comet. Different configurations allow the light to form a complete arc when anchored to the ground on both sides, above left, or a partial arc when anchored to a tabletop clamp or a wall, above right.

The LED strip is waterproof and diffuses light over a broad area. YLighting, which will be selling the piece, says Halley also is lightweight, making it easy to reposition. The lamp comes in three pieces that snap together; when the party's over, it disassembles for easier storage (bag included).

Vibia was a standout at Euroluce, the worldwide lighting exhibition held every other April in conjunction with the Milan furniture fair in Italy. The company has an array of LED technology in the pipeline, particularly for outdoors. Prices for Halley will start at $2,525 when it arrives in the U.S. later this year, and as with all new design, don't be surprised if less expensive copycats follow.

RELATED:

24 new picks for patio chairs

Extremis Hopper: Picnic table made modern

TerraTrellis: A contemporary take on the garden trellis

-- Craig Nakano

Credits: Vibia

New Serralunga pots, rechargeable Philips TableLights brighten the patio without cords

Weatherproof lighting powered by rechargeable batteries is the great new frontier of outdoor living. Energy-efficient LEDs require little power to operate, so lamps can offer long-lasting light minus the awkward, trip-triggering cords.

Last week, the Italian firm Serralunga announced forthcoming cordless versions of its lighted flower pots, above. The walls are embedded with LEDs that glow for five to 20 hours, depending on customers' settings for intensity of light. Colors can be changed by remote control. The lights are so new that pricing wasn't yet available. Serralunga's U.S. distributor is S.I.T. Inc., (800) 611-4664.

For those looking for quick, low-cost solutions: Amazon.com recently began offering Philips Imageo TableLights, right, miniature LED lanterns that glow in one of seven colors or can be set to sequence through all shades automatically.

The TableLights, sold in sets of two, need to charge for six hours. Then they're portable and able to illuminate for up to 10 hours. The price, as provided to us by an Amazon spokeswoman: $64 ($48 for white light only). Those prices, however, have kept changing on the site , so we have asked an Amazon representative to clarify. Stay tuned.

RELATED:

24 new patio chair designs for summer

A modern take on the picnic table

HGTV host Jamie Durie's own backyard rooms

-- Craig Nakano

Photo credits: Serralunga, Amazon.com

 

Plumen, the answer to ugly fluorescent bulbs?

Say hello to Plumen, the compact fluorescent light bulb that may change what you think about CFLs. Two identically shaped fluorescent tubes are intertwined, taking on a different appearance depending on your vantage point. (See video below.)

Design fans might expect a wire cage fixture like the one above to have one of those old-timey Edison bulbs, the kind with the visible filaments, right?  But those steampunk bulbs burn a lot of juice. Plumen, which produces the equivalent of a 55-watt glow, reduces electrical consumption by 80% and can provide 8,000 hours of light, co-owner Michael-George Hemus said.

"Everyone knows that compact fluorescent bulbs save energy," he said, noting that 15,000 Plumens have already been sold in Europe. "The intention was to create something that will encourage people to use them because they liked them."

Plumen will cost $29.95, well above the price of standard compact fluorescent bulbs, but the new bulb already has fans: It was added to the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Click on the video to see Plumen show off its curves. 

Plumen bulb loop video also can be viewed on Vimeo. 

Kind of makes you long for a revolving socket, doesn't it?

Orders can be placed exclusively through the Future Perfect. Plumen can also be purchased from the Plumen online shop.

ALSO:

  Homes of the Times photo tours

-- David A. Keeps

Photo and video credit: Plumen

ICFF 2011: Indie designers stand out at furniture fair

At the 2011 International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the nation's most important showcase for modern home decor, independent designers and artisanal producers stood out from the Javits Center pack. The New York convention center floor was filled with pieces such as, clockwise from top left: a chair from Akmd collection, a collaboration of Michael Dreeben and Ayush Kasliwal; a Sami Hayek table in the style of traditional black Oaxacan pottery; Ameico's Trash Me lamp, a Victor Vetterlein design made of paper pulp reminiscent of egg-carton material; and Hayek's Mestizo credenza, which combines traditional Mexican bead work with a modern glossy red finish.

Cindy Dampier reports from New York with the full assessment of the 2011 International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

RELATED:

New York Design Week: New Finnish Design Scenarios

New York Design Week: Matt Gagnon's Prototype lamps

New York Design Week: A hammock named Hammy

Milan furniture fair 2011: Newest looks for top designers

New Finnish Design Scenarios exhibit has a light touch

Contemporary Finnish designers presented their work last week at a show in Manhattan's meatpacking district titled "New Finnish Design Scenarios," held to coincide with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and New York Design Week.

The Finnish designers created spare and simple furniture, rugs and fabric made from paper yarn. Perhaps because they spend a lot of the winter in darkness, they seemed obsessed with lights, even figuring out a way to integrate LEDs in a rope swing, above, designed by Alexander Lervik.  

The firm Innojok displayed a line of table and floor lamps called Innolux Design, which included pieces by Eero Aarnio, the man behind the iconic 1960s Bubble and Ball chairs, and reissued midcentury classics by designers Yki Nummi and Lisa Johansson-Pape.

Most intriguing: Innosol, a collection of lamps that have been certified as medical devices to provide bright light therapy to those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder.

The lamps come as flat panels, globes and designer shapes, including Aarnio's Kubo and Manhattan. (Both are pictured at right; the skyscraper-inspired Manhattan is the more shadowy light on the far left.)

Each provides 10,000 lux, the measurement of light intensity. (Outdoor summer light is rated at 50,000 to 100,000 lux.) 

The designer, Mari Isopahkala, was also on hand to explain a prototype of Kurki, an aluminum floor lamp with the profile of a minimalist sculpture: five 360-degree pivoting arms that emit LED illumination, shown below.

"I wanted to create a lamp for the user to choose how much light they needed and where they wanted the light to be placed," she said. To turn it off, she added, "You line up all the arms. To turn it on, you just move the arms to where you want them."

Matt Gagnon and his Prototype lamps light up the NoHo Design District

For the young and crafty like Matt Gagnon, above, Brooklyn had been the center of the universe during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the modern design show that anchors New York Design Week. But now all the action has moved to Manhattan's NoHo, the North of Houston neighborhood that hosted a number of events and exhibitions last week showcasing work from Brooklyn to Berlin.

Furniture at the NoHo Design District exhibitions looked familiar and fatigued: Some concept pieces took designers too long to explain, and uncomfortable metal and plywood cube chairs caused one onlooker to remark, "These designers are the children of Donald Judd."

Lighting designs, however, were a bright spot.

Los Angeles craftsman Matt Gagnon took over the front window of the NoHo branch of Future Perfect, the Brooklyn store that has long advanced both local and international design.

Gagnon and his assistants put on a show, cranking out about 40 Prototype pendant lamps made from fibers wound around metal armatures.

"It's part of my ongoing obsession with wrapping things," said Gagnon, who designed 18 components that can be configured in seemingly endless ways to create the frame for the pendants. The frames are wrapped in materials such as clear plastic surgical tubing, cotton rope or silk thread.

"Because the aerospace industry in Los Angeles has fallen off, they're happy to deal with weirdoes like me," he said, referring to aerospace fabricators that make the components for his lighting.

The lamps sell for $600 each at Future Perfect. Keep reading to see the lights of Lindsey Adelman, Omer Arbel and Roman & Williams, all displayed in the NoHo Design District.

Philippe Starck's Net lamp for Flos doubles as a docking station for iPad and iPhone

 

Flos' new Net, a table lamp that doubles as an iPad or iPhone dock, was the most interesting design at Euroluce, the lighting exhibition held every other year at the Milan furniture fair. The design, by Philippe Starck with Eugene Quitllet, has a docking connection atop the LED fixture. A small vertical stand behind the devices keeps them propped up.

Net offers the sheer functional beauty of recharging devices without cluttering the desk. But it's easy to imagine customers using their phones or tables as digital picture frames. An iPad user might even get a wireless keyboard and have an instant work space: task lighting, keyboard and screen.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Milan furniture fair 2011 highlights 

RELATED:

Why Milan matters

Story vases from Front, Siyazama and Editions in Craft

Molo's lighted bag for Japanese relief

-- Craig Nakano in Milan, Italy

Photo: Flos' Net table lamp could be set up as an instant iPad work space. Credit: Franco Forci / For The Times

 

 

The Deal: Wholesale prices and a party at studio of woodworker William Stranger

Furniture maker William Stranger, known for his use of free-edge timber and reclaimed wood, has branched out. Last month he showed the Learn About Fire lamp, above, constructed from an olive tree burned in the 2009 fire at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. The hanging shades are made from cherry veneer remnants.

Stranger displayed the piece at a show for Art From the Ashes, a nonprofit group that raises money for people and businesses affected by the fire. Now the furniture maker will be selling this work and a limited number of other designs at an open house and sale this weekend in his Pasadena studio. The one-of-a-kind lamp, originally $4,400, will be marked down to $2,200. The Fragment vases and Tava coffee table made from a section of bowling lane featured in an earlier L.A. at Home post also will be on sale.

Vases will start at $145, cheese boards from $70. The woodworker also will unveil the Dial M end table, shown at right in acacia but available in locally salvaged walnut for $700.

Stranger said he is staging his pieces as a gallery show to celebrate his 25th year in business.

"I have always wanted to have a party at my studio, so there will also be a party on Friday night," he said. "Making it a sale seems like the thing to do in the middle of a slow recovery," he added, referring to the economy.

Most pieces in the weekend show, including tables and chairs with open knotholes, are being offered at wholesale prices, said Stranger, who also sells his work at the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica. Additional pieces can be ordered during the show with discounts based "on material availability and complexity of design," he said. 

The sale will run from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at 3202 E. Foothill Blvd. No. 6H in Pasadena. 

Can't make it? No worries. Check Stranger's website for examples of work, then call (626) 405-0927 or e-mail  ws@strangerfurniture.com for a quote as well as shipping details.           

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: William Stranger 

Ikea phases out incandescent light bulbs

Ikea is generating considerable attention at the start of 2011 for halting the sale of incandescent bulbs and instead selling more energy-efficient halogen, fluorescent and LED lighting. It's old news, however: We actually reported on the pending change back in June and hinted of a bigger story developing in how we light our homes.

Our original article, posted online June 15 and updated for print June 18:

When Ikea announced this week that its 48 U.S. and Canadian stores will stop selling traditional incandescent light bulbs by the end of the year, the real story wasn't the bulbs. It was how a shift from the soft white glowing globes of decades past will affect the design of lamps, sconces and chandeliers of decades future.

First, the timeline: Ikea will begin phasing out incandescent bulbs starting Aug. 1 with a target completion date of Jan. 1, 2011. The company already has stopped selling incandescents in France and Australia as other parts of the world move faster to energy-efficient alternatives.

In the U.S., the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates that light bulbs will need to use 30% less energy than incandescents by 2014. Unless engineers can invent a more energy-efficient incandescent bulb at an attractive price — an unlikely scenario — it essentially will become obsolete. The new federal standards will roll out in stages, starting with 100-watt bulbs, which must comply by January 2011, and ending with 40-watt bulbs, which must comply by January 2014.

How will the change affect light fixtures? As consumers shift to incandescent alternatives, designers will have to develop better solutions to the problems of fluorescents (institutional glow), halogens (excess heat) and LEDs (cost).

The Deal: Alvar Aalto pendants 20% off at YLighting

YLighting is offering 20% off select Artek pendant lights by Finnish designer Alvar Aalto through Dec. 31.

The styles pictured here: the A330S Golden Bell pendant light, shown in brass and white at far left; the A110 pendant, shaped like flashlight, available in black and white lacquered aluminum; the A331 "Beehive" light; and the asymmetrically cut A338, far right.

With the exception of the Beehive, all the lights are regularly $290 each; they're now on sale for $232. The Beehive is not on sale, but rather offered as a Ylighting exclusive for $955. Shipping is included in the prices.

(866) 428-9289

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Artek