Thanks to innovations in material and process, the age-old light bulb ain’t so bulbous anymore. These days it twists, it oozes, it pops, it surveils.
Netherlands-based designer David Graas, who specializes in quirky material experiments like flat-pack cardboard furniture and recycled-PET bottlecap tabletop accessories, just added a new form to the mix. His Stalaclights are skyscraper-shaped lampshades that attach directly to hanging LED bulbs, which, unlike incandescent bulbs of yore produce very little heat.
Through the convenience of 3D printing, Graas was able to give them spires and highly intricate setbacks that pay homage to Art Deco icons of Chicago and New York, although we have to say they look a little more Petronas Towers than Chrysler Building.
“If you would imagine these cities turned upside down it would look just like stalactites growing from the ceiling of a limestone cave,” reads the designer’s statement, “steadily growing in time with every drop of ground water seeping through the cave’s roof.” Is that “groundwater” a veiled metaphor for capitalism? It’s certainly what’s feeding the stalagmites steadily taking over New York right now.
via Studio David Graas
