This lamp by English lampshade designer Mark Betty has this description “Lamp and Brown Paper (or whatever you want)” . The brown paper rolled into an asymmetrical cone and secured with a pin seems to have been made in a single gesture. Like all Betty’s shades, it has its own unique personality, as though it were alive…
Read MoreHow Rice Paper Shades Give Their Blessing to a Room
In the messy digital file I keep of ideas for possible Improvised Life posts, I found trove marked simply “paper shades”. Their big message: A rice paper shade or two adds A LOT to even the most “undecorated” room. They have a unique, rather magical presence that pulls the room together. Here’s how.
Read MoreChandelier from 1980’s Berlin and Alexander Calder “On the Cutting Edge of Architectural Experimentation”
We found this divine, completely original and inspired chandelier buried in MondoBlogo’s riff on 1980’s interiors. It’s right up there with this ceiling light Alexander Calder fashioned for his friend Miro.
Read MoreSolar Lanterns Make Lunar Magic, Sensual Bubbles and, in the end, Stars
One of the best ways we know to create outdoor lighting magic in warm months are with Shoji Solar Lanterns…
Read MorePaper Shades Give a Community Soup Kitchen a Noguchi Touch (That We Love at Home as Well)
We’ve long loved paper shades, pioneered by Noguchi, to give soft modern shapes to home interiors as well as jazzing up public ones like this community soup kitchen in London
Read MoreString Light Wreaths, Trees and Freeform Decorations
Terrain’s circular displays of their holiday lighting made us think “wreath” and gave us lots of ideas. Just coil the lighting (using a form if necessary) and tack it to the wall. There are all sorts of iterations of lighting made into wreaths, decorations and wall trees.
Read MoreBent Copper Tubing Lamp Sculpture DIY (after Anna Fasshauer)
We’ve written about all sorts of practical things made out of copper pipe and tubing from room dividers to tables.The copper lighting we’ve posted has been simple, with one or two bends NOT the wonderfully freeform tangles of artist Anna Fasshauer’s light sculptures. Which seem, possibly, diy-able.
Read MoreLED-Illuminated Chairs, Tables, Beds
About the time we spotted Nadia el-Khoury’s chic, underlighted, slipcovered chairs in The New York Times Magazine, we saw this simple bed lit from underneath on poet Ocean Vuong’s tumblr.
Read MoreThe Lunar Magic of Solar Lanterns + Solar Cell Stars
On the heels of our post about Staging a Summer Party with Modest Means, frequent contributor Susan Dworski sent this email about Shoji Solar Lanterns, an essential, inexpensive, mood-enhancing element that are, in her words “Pretty damned lunar at night”: Ironically, I just replaced my tattered red Shoji solars yesterday with the familiar bluebird ones. They are…
Read MoreLamp Shade from Single Sheet of Paper
Japanese design studio YOY’s beautifully minimal lamp shade made out of a single sheet of paper made us realize that we could make it or other PAPER shade iterations now that we we’ve found a bright, pleasing bright LED bulb. Since LEDs don’t get hot like incandescent bulbs, we can fashion shades out of paper without danger of fire.
Read MoreBespoke Lampshades + Tweek’s Instant Lunette
There are a lot of things we like about this interior but this crazy tall, fabulously orange lampshade takes the cake for completely shifting our view of lampshade possibilities. It makes us wonder why most lampshades are so ordinary. We are hard-pressed to find a ready-made shade like this BUT know that the reliable Just Shades…
Read MoreFinally, A Pleasing LED Bulb + Our Lighting Strategy
After a great deal of testing, and disappointment, we’re happy to say we’ve FINALLY found an LED bulb we can live with; with pleasing, BRIGHT incandescent-quality light.
Read MoreThe Magical Flying Lighting We’d REALLY Love to Have
(Video link HERE.) Just as we were writing out post decrying the ubiquitous pendant lamp, Susan Dworski sent us this charmer of a short film. Sparked, a collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, ETH Zurich and Verity Studios creates an unexpected dance between a human and 10 quadcopters (drones). It’s a bit slow until 1:41 when the magical…
Read MoreRe-envisioning Pendant Lamps: “A Room Within a Room”
When we were designing the kitchen for the laboratory, we wired the ceiling above the island expecting to hang two or three pendant lamps. But when we got to selecting them, we realized we dislike pendant lamps for the way they seem to intrude in the space, and because of the sameness of the look we…
Read MoreChristmas Light Cars and Trucks
After Holton Rower emailed this photo of a car festooned with christmas lights, we wondered if we’d find more iterations of this unusual holiday decoration. Sure enough, we found all manner of vehicles decorated for the holiday,
Read MoreVan Gogh’s Glowing ‘Starry Night’ Bike Path
Inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde created a wondrous solar-powered LED bicycle path that glows luminous green in the dark. The path, which has been likened to a “river of stars, fallen down ‘Starry Night’”, is located in Brabant, the county where the painter was raised. How wonderful it would be as…
Read MoreStylish, Cheap Socket and Shade Lighting Formula
After Remodelista touted the virtues of the vin ordinaire hardware store porcelain light socket, we were reminded of the one that ended up on our wall during the Laboratory’s renovation. Overwhelmed by the all the details we needed to get together to make the space livable, we improvised, adorning it with lighting designer David Weeks’ clever,…
Read MoreSolar Lanterns Become Wondrous Bubbles
“Sensual wave“, an art installation by French architects Marion Moustey and Alexandre Arcens, gave us ideas for late summer-fall gardens lit with Soji Solar Lantern. Susan Dworski first posted about the wondrous, inexpensive solar shoji lights she festooned her garden with. “Sensual Wave” takes her idea a step further.
Read MoreIn Praise of Shadows and Quiet, Muted Interiors
I’ve been yearning for shadows since June 21st when the world took a tumble towards autumn, trailing crayon-bright, midsummer color and loud solstice revels. Parched by the bleached Scandinavian cottages and austere, no-tint white rooms that are everywhere online, I’m craving soothing darkness and a place to sequester in silence. This stark, in-your-face, white duvet bedroom suddenly hurts my eyes…and…
Read MoreA HUGE Paper Globe Transforms a Room
Spotted in a house tour at Desire to Inspire: one swell idea. Want to add some moderne architectural interest to a prewar room? Hang a giant Noguchi-esque paper shade. We’re talking BIG: 36-inch or 42-inch in diameter We like the Maru white paper lantern available at Shoji Decor. They also sell single cord lantern kits for…
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