Lamps are a fantastic way to light an interior space. Recessed ceiling lights do not establish hierarchy in the dimensions that humans are most interested in. Getting the lighting source close to eye level is the key to success.
At some level this turns into an accessibility and comfort issue. People with limited vision can take strong advantage of well placed lights. Highlights and shadows are some of the most fundamental elements of human visual perception. Without them our brain needs to work overtime to analyze a given scene.
As a former lighting designer, we would call this “task lighting” and you are completely correct. Generally speaking, task lighting is MUCH more pleasant that simply relying on overhead lights, recessed or otherwise.
I'd want to add a bit of nuance to that, as bright lights hurt my eyes and induce headaches (sometimes migraines).
For that reason I really like overhead lights as:
1. You can easily fit a larger number of overhead lights (e.g. 6 overhead lights vs 2 eye-level task lights)
2. For equivalent lighting in a room say x lumens, each overhead light must be x/6, whereas the 2 eye-level lights would be x/3 lumens, much brighter.
3. Because the lights are overhead, they're not in my vision, yet light up the objects in my room.
I still have 5 eye-level lamps in my living room, but they supplement the overhead lights which always give a base amount of light, and allow the lamps to be less bright. Every time I turn off the overhead lights I see too little, and if I turn up my lamps to see better, it is too bright for the comfort of my eyes.
It's akin to driving: I like having a sun above me, when it's low in the sky before dusk and shining in my eyes, it sucks, even though objects are less bright and visible than midday, simply because of the positioning of the light vis-a-vis my eyes.
One lamp featured was a "mini Tizio". I bought the full-size one many, many years ago. (E.g. uses a Halogen bulb.) This article prompted me to think... So I just Goolged it. My vintage Tizio is now selling for about $1,200. (Cannot remember what I spent, but very likely my <$150 filter kicked in when buying.) So if you like these lights, maybe consider the cost an investment. If after a few decades you may want to sell, and you might do well. Note: My Tizio is not for sale as it is a superb desk lamp.
Alas, a good-condition Tizio usually sells for around $200-$350 used, depending on the exact model. First-generation models may go a little higher, like $500-$600. I bought mine a couple of years ago for about €250.
If you browse sites like 1stdibs or Pamono, you're going to see dramatically inflated prices, but I don't see why anyone would ever buy there. Ebay, Selency, Vntg, etc. are more likely to sell at actual market prices.
I sold a few vintage Tizio lamps, with the old style halogen, for €130 per piece last year. Took a few weeks to sell them. In all fairness, they were missing bits like the glass panel and one had two paint splatters on the head.
Nice lights, but not the easiest to move, a bit fragile and not very power efficient. The LED ones don't power on when you apply power to them which is a strange choice and makes it difficult to integrate with wall switches.
The real price of anything you see on 1stdibs is about 40-50 percent lower than what you see. Their fees are egregious and if a piece is unique or the seller name has enough info it's almost always very easy to find the seller and contact them directly via instagram. Also, if you want more market price information go look at sold prices on liveauctioneers (just keep in mind buyers premium is about 25-30 percent)
Yep, agreed. I don't really understand why 1stdibs even exists, since I can't imagine anyone ever pays these prices. Chairing and Pamono (now owned by Chairish) also is generally inflated.
My go to sources are Selency, Vntg, Instagram, Catawiki, and then a bunch of online stores across Europe I've bookmarked, including auction sites like Bukowskis in Sweden. The smaller vintage stores are the ones to go to generally.
I'll note that many of the glass blocks they use are available all over, for a few dollars. I bought a few Doric glass blocks, stuck some diffused LED strips below them, and printed a stand/enclosure, all for under $15. Good gift for friends.
I know this is like saying "I could do what Jackson Pollock does if I just threw some paint around"...but I can't really shake the feeling that that Muuto Post looks like something out of my dorm room but for 1255 dollars.
I guess the modularity (you can purchase more lights) is a real feature though?
These look quite nice. I'm very protective of desk real estate for persistent things, though. Has anyone got a nice bright focus lamp when working on things. Most of the time my room is well-enough illuminated for things, but yesterday I was doing some minor maintenance on my 3d printer hot-end and I had to use my iPhone with the flashlight on propped up. Is there some kind of compact folding lamp which nonetheless has the ability to hold position and still be moved over specific parts of my table? Battery-operated would be ideal, but I can plug things in at worst.
Milwaukee 500 Lumens LED Pivoting REDLITHIUM USB Flashlight.
Google that. It's pretty expensive for a flashlight but makes a PHENOMENAL work light. 3 brightness/focus modes, magnetic base, adjustable head, holds charge forever, and rechargable.
I'm sorry. I focused more on the part where desk space is at a premium. This little light can be tucked away when not in use, thereby negating considerations of aesthetics.
I use an Anduril based LED headlamp running rechargable 18650 battery.[0]
Light where you look, as stable as your head, brightness variable as desired.
Anduril firmware can run in simple mode or get stupid complicated with things like candle, lightning, tactical flashing (think flashbang level of trying to disorient).
Remember a saying of 5 individual light sources in each room as a rule of interior design. Very wholesome read, made me smile and look at my own lamps.
Since you’re a fan of Sapper, have you peeped the Halley? He did it for an LED lighting startup (back when that was a thing), very artsy for him. I got one on eBay several years ago that I use as a work lamp because of its supreme adjustability. Uses my favorite electromechanical connector of all time, the 3.5mm audio jack (I’ve used it on every one of my hardware products).
I love love love my vintage table lamps, they're "Peill Puztler" ice cube lamps I think. They were typically sold back in the days with mirror head bulbs: I know because I was there, as a kid, and my mom (RIP) had those in her apartment. And now I've got them at my place.
And because I hate to have only LED lighting, I stick good old (but brand new) incandescent bulbs in my "ice cube" lamps: such bulbs go by many names and can still be found (they're either for ovens [where they can sustain insane heat], for warming terrariums, for heating lava lamps, etc.).
Just having one or two incandescent bulb in the living room, in addition to LEDs, works wonder to give a cozy ambiance.
I'd say it's a bit sad to have lamps from the 70s but then stick cold LED bulbs into them (and, yes, even "warm" LEDs do feel incredibly cold): put incandescent bulbs and experience them at they were meant to be (once again: no need to replace the entire house with incandescent bulbs, just two or three here and there shall work wonder).
If your warm LEDs feel too cold, they’re not warm LEDs. Most ‘warm’ LEDs are either 3000K or 2700K, which is about the colour temperature of a standard incandescent at full brightness.
Look for 2200K LEDs – they’re actually warm and closer to a dimmed incandescent. I personally prefer 1800K, which are warmer still, but they’re much harder to find and have far fewer options in terms of brightness.
I have lamp sockets – need to rewire lamps to a different kind of plug but then they can be turned on/off with ordinary light switches. They were more common in older properties when lamps were more common, then went out of fashion, though some newer (or more expensive) properties get them these days.
No not per se, but most people tend to stop using the switches.
The Hue basically just adds a switch inside the bulb, which can be remote controlled. The lamp's switch is still there, and functions as normal (turning on or off electricity to the bulb).
So your light is on when the lamp's switch + the hue's switch is on. It's off when either one is off.
So if your light is on, you can indeed walk to a lamp and turn the switch off to turn off the light. Or you can turn off the Hue bulb via your phone (or Philips Hue switches you can put anywhere in the house, they're basically bluetooth switches that run on a <$1 replaceable battery that lasts 2 years.
If you turn off your Hue light via your app, you can turn it back on later via the app, but not the light switch (as that's already on, but the bulb isn't).
And if you turn off your lamp via its switch, you can turn it back on later via the same switch, but not the app, as the bulb is already on but not getting power as the lamp's switch is off.
Especially with multiple people living in the house with different behaviors, that becomes annoying. So usually people choose to stop using the lamp switch and only use the Hue. You can of course hook-up the bulb to a Hue switch, so you can turn it on and off with both the switch and the app.
I've had the BenQ WiT reading desk lamp for nearly five years, and it has been almost flawless until now. I always use it to light my desk when working on the computer, and it's also fine for any detail work or whenever I'm reading on the desk. It could be improved with some design changes to reduce lateral glare, but this could impact the wide throw of the light which entirely covers my desk.
I don't know how honeywell of all companies is selling this, but I figure they have engineers that they turned loose on and got out of their way.
It is just super nice. Elegant looking, not expensive, very high quality illumination that can get bright, smoothly dimmable with a knob. a knob to adjust lighting is a good design.
In comparison, dyson makes a lamp that is the same kind of interesting genre, but they cost 10-20x.
[1] except to turn it off is inelegant - you have to press and hold instead of tap, because tap changes color temperature.
The knob is such an underrated part of this. For something you adjust constantly, a physical rotary control is just better than tapping through presets or opening an app
I have a similar lamp that also makes you press and hold. Annoying. Yours even has that knob (mine is all touch) -- it should just have a physical detent at the end that cuts power, you know, like lots of dimmable lamps used to have.
How does it fare with modern LED bulbs? I imagine the placement of the reflectors assumes an almost-point source of light like a filament would provide, but most LED bulbs now have a plane of LEDs inside a frosted shell.
I guess would it make a noticeable difference to put an LED faux filament bulb in here? Or is it just not as fussy as I'm imagining?
Had to look it up. The cable coming out of the middle section is unfortunate. I get it's supposed to be vaguely anthropomorphic so that's like a tail or something but... come on.
Really loved the lamps featured here. I'm jealous of the whole setup, including the Vitsoe shelving. Saving this for inspiration when I need to revamp my home setup. Thanks for sharing!
Love the pics. Moved into a place in the 90's. Insurance agent told me, easiest way to liven up a cheap apt was to get good lighting. He was right, but I was too lazy to shop much. Only found one lamp that I really like.
It's an Ikea Torchère: kinda old now, just halogen, but I've always kept a spare "bulb" for it somewhere - replaced it every 10-20 years. I still like the weird pattern on the ceiling. :P
I noticed a Toyooka Craft box in the article (on the "Louis Poulsen PH 3/2" pic), and thought "fountain pen user."
This article about their setup mentions fountain pens.
The ones that clamp to your desk are no good. The clamp always works its way loose. I drilled a hole in the desk and ran a bolt through it, that works.
My articulating desk lamp was balanced for incandescent bulbs. The LED ones are heavier and pull it down.
The Tizio ones, despite certainly desirable due to Sapper, are crap. Suffer from contact issues and the earlier halogen ones love to overheat. I used to refurbish them for people.
I share the author's love for nice lamps. A lamp is an object to enjoy every day, which doesn't require any time investment from us. It is just there, with one simple function: to look pleasing.
What a wonderful space you have created. I have so much mindlessness in where I have things placed. I feel inspired to be a bit more purposeful and organize some things now.
The picture just below the title "Tizio Micro" looking down on the lamp with the lawn behind, part of the collage of five photos, has been squished horizontally or stretched vertically quite a lot. Many of the other photos on the page have also been stretched in one direction but not the other.
Oh those, are vertically shot ones! They are not thinned. Their composition are like that. When you press/click on them you should be able to see them in full page. They look nice on the phone, but on your desktop/ipad (depending on the orientation) it might look bad yeah.
Um, no. Have a look at the two pictures just under the title "Akari 75A". They are of the same room. On the right-hand picture, the ceiling lamp is round, but on the left-hand picture, the ceiling lamp is oval.
Indeed. Having such nice lamps and or items is especially nice when you put them in a nice interior with everything perfectly finished. Put them in a messy place and or a less than perfect place and you lose a lot of the wow effect. Great place and great lamps here, congratulations to OP !
I fantasized about the possibilities of decorating a place, when said decorations do not need to be proofed against wanton destruction by young children
> Fun fact: “Akari” means light in Japanese, both as illumination and as lightness.
Wow! I love it when two languages have matching homonyms. I always wonder "what does it mean ?". Like, in English "second" to mean the unit of time and the place after "first" feels like two distinct usages. But it's the same in Spanish ("segundo"), which points to a deeper connection (and isn't so unsurprising given the shared roots of the languages): the unit of time is called that because it's the second subdivision of an hour.
The two usages of "light" in English are so distinct I'm quite surprised it's like this in the entirely unrelated Japanese language. Is this just a big coincidence, or does anyone know any deeper reasons here?
That was my thought path as well. The closest to a noun that came to mind would be karusa. I’m far from an expert in the language, so I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
For the benefit of other readers, this is (to my deep chagrin) just a coincidence. Some other fun false friends (i.e. w/ no actual etymological connection), some sillier than others:
- そう sō, "so"
- 名前 namae, "name"
- 乱暴 rambō, "violence"
- 被る kaburu, "cover"
- 孫 son, "descendant"
- 銭 sen, "one hundredth of a yen" (sounds similar to "cent")
The first example is not really a coincidence: a second is defined by being the second subvision of an hour.
So that example fails to support any reason for akari matching light in English. But for the sake of argument here is another one: じゃり (giari, read as "ja-ri") in Japanese means gravel and in my dialect almost the same sound (giarin, "ja-ri-n") also mean gravel. Go figure.
That was exactly my intended point (and my comment does mention the hour subdivision). There are a lot of meaningless coincidental homonyms, but these tend to not be homonyms in other languages. E.g. I dunno "left" in English would be "izquierda" or "dejó". Or conversely, "vino" in Spanish would be "wine" or "came". The fact that "second" and "segundo" have homonyms in their respective languages is a clue that the unit of time and the ordinal word are the same is not a coincidence. And when you look into it it's for the reason that you state. The homonym pairs indicates an etymological relationship between the two concepts.
So I was wondering if the same applied here. My initial reaction is that "light" meaning "illuminated" and "light" meaning "not heavy" is that this is just one of those coincidences, since I can't see how that one word relates the two concepts. But given that Japanese also does the same, it makes me wonder if maybe there is some sort of relationship. Maybe it was a common belief historically that the sun was not very heavy or something like that. Or maybe not and it's just a rare double coincidence!
At least some of these cases occur because the two concepts are related by metaphor, and cultures behind each language independently followed the same path of metaphorical expansion.
Wait until you look up the many ways 分 (usually bun in compounds, but used to spell the verb wakaru) is used. (There are also more complex variants of the kanji that emphasize various nuances.)
Lamps are a fantastic way to light an interior space. Recessed ceiling lights do not establish hierarchy in the dimensions that humans are most interested in. Getting the lighting source close to eye level is the key to success.
At some level this turns into an accessibility and comfort issue. People with limited vision can take strong advantage of well placed lights. Highlights and shadows are some of the most fundamental elements of human visual perception. Without them our brain needs to work overtime to analyze a given scene.
As a former lighting designer, we would call this “task lighting” and you are completely correct. Generally speaking, task lighting is MUCH more pleasant that simply relying on overhead lights, recessed or otherwise.
I'd want to add a bit of nuance to that, as bright lights hurt my eyes and induce headaches (sometimes migraines).
For that reason I really like overhead lights as: 1. You can easily fit a larger number of overhead lights (e.g. 6 overhead lights vs 2 eye-level task lights) 2. For equivalent lighting in a room say x lumens, each overhead light must be x/6, whereas the 2 eye-level lights would be x/3 lumens, much brighter. 3. Because the lights are overhead, they're not in my vision, yet light up the objects in my room.
I still have 5 eye-level lamps in my living room, but they supplement the overhead lights which always give a base amount of light, and allow the lamps to be less bright. Every time I turn off the overhead lights I see too little, and if I turn up my lamps to see better, it is too bright for the comfort of my eyes.
It's akin to driving: I like having a sun above me, when it's low in the sky before dusk and shining in my eyes, it sucks, even though objects are less bright and visible than midday, simply because of the positioning of the light vis-a-vis my eyes.
One lamp featured was a "mini Tizio". I bought the full-size one many, many years ago. (E.g. uses a Halogen bulb.) This article prompted me to think... So I just Goolged it. My vintage Tizio is now selling for about $1,200. (Cannot remember what I spent, but very likely my <$150 filter kicked in when buying.) So if you like these lights, maybe consider the cost an investment. If after a few decades you may want to sell, and you might do well. Note: My Tizio is not for sale as it is a superb desk lamp.
Alas, a good-condition Tizio usually sells for around $200-$350 used, depending on the exact model. First-generation models may go a little higher, like $500-$600. I bought mine a couple of years ago for about €250.
If you browse sites like 1stdibs or Pamono, you're going to see dramatically inflated prices, but I don't see why anyone would ever buy there. Ebay, Selency, Vntg, etc. are more likely to sell at actual market prices.
I sold a few vintage Tizio lamps, with the old style halogen, for €130 per piece last year. Took a few weeks to sell them. In all fairness, they were missing bits like the glass panel and one had two paint splatters on the head.
Nice lights, but not the easiest to move, a bit fragile and not very power efficient. The LED ones don't power on when you apply power to them which is a strange choice and makes it difficult to integrate with wall switches.
The real price of anything you see on 1stdibs is about 40-50 percent lower than what you see. Their fees are egregious and if a piece is unique or the seller name has enough info it's almost always very easy to find the seller and contact them directly via instagram. Also, if you want more market price information go look at sold prices on liveauctioneers (just keep in mind buyers premium is about 25-30 percent)
Yep, agreed. I don't really understand why 1stdibs even exists, since I can't imagine anyone ever pays these prices. Chairing and Pamono (now owned by Chairish) also is generally inflated.
My go to sources are Selency, Vntg, Instagram, Catawiki, and then a bunch of online stores across Europe I've bookmarked, including auction sites like Bukowskis in Sweden. The smaller vintage stores are the ones to go to generally.
Thanks for the correct info. I must admit to a very hasty Google search, and the highest number likely caught my eye.
I wrote about this concept recently. Secondhand objects can be good purchases!
https://arun.is/blog/pinned-value-goods/
I love iconic minimal lamps too. I never saw the Lampe de Bureau nor the Kismas Lamp 01, love them! You might like the Muuto Post.
I'll note that many of the glass blocks they use are available all over, for a few dollars. I bought a few Doric glass blocks, stuck some diffused LED strips below them, and printed a stand/enclosure, all for under $15. Good gift for friends.
I know this is like saying "I could do what Jackson Pollock does if I just threw some paint around"...but I can't really shake the feeling that that Muuto Post looks like something out of my dorm room but for 1255 dollars.
I guess the modularity (you can purchase more lights) is a real feature though?
These look quite nice. I'm very protective of desk real estate for persistent things, though. Has anyone got a nice bright focus lamp when working on things. Most of the time my room is well-enough illuminated for things, but yesterday I was doing some minor maintenance on my 3d printer hot-end and I had to use my iPhone with the flashlight on propped up. Is there some kind of compact folding lamp which nonetheless has the ability to hold position and still be moved over specific parts of my table? Battery-operated would be ideal, but I can plug things in at worst.
Milwaukee 500 Lumens LED Pivoting REDLITHIUM USB Flashlight.
Google that. It's pretty expensive for a flashlight but makes a PHENOMENAL work light. 3 brightness/focus modes, magnetic base, adjustable head, holds charge forever, and rechargable.
I thought we were taking aesthetics into consideration.
I'm sorry. I focused more on the part where desk space is at a premium. This little light can be tucked away when not in use, thereby negating considerations of aesthetics.
I use an Anduril based LED headlamp running rechargable 18650 battery.[0]
Light where you look, as stable as your head, brightness variable as desired.
Anduril firmware can run in simple mode or get stupid complicated with things like candle, lightning, tactical flashing (think flashbang level of trying to disorient).
Good luck with that 3D printer hotend!
[0] https://www.sofirnlight.com/products/sofirn-h35r-1500lm-head...
*can also use the light it self to recharge the battery within.
I got a rechargeable headlamp for close work.
[flagged]
Remember a saying of 5 individual light sources in each room as a rule of interior design. Very wholesome read, made me smile and look at my own lamps.
Brought me joy as Kondo would have said
Since you’re a fan of Sapper, have you peeped the Halley? He did it for an LED lighting startup (back when that was a thing), very artsy for him. I got one on eBay several years ago that I use as a work lamp because of its supreme adjustability. Uses my favorite electromechanical connector of all time, the 3.5mm audio jack (I’ve used it on every one of my hardware products).
Excellent collection, compliments to the chef!
One of my recent favourites - Le Soleil by Foscarini - https://www.foscarini.com/en/product/le-soleil-std-s-en/
It's wonderfully asymmetrical without overdoing it, with every layer suspended and swaying independently when prodded. Exceptional light distribution.
I love love love my vintage table lamps, they're "Peill Puztler" ice cube lamps I think. They were typically sold back in the days with mirror head bulbs: I know because I was there, as a kid, and my mom (RIP) had those in her apartment. And now I've got them at my place.
And because I hate to have only LED lighting, I stick good old (but brand new) incandescent bulbs in my "ice cube" lamps: such bulbs go by many names and can still be found (they're either for ovens [where they can sustain insane heat], for warming terrariums, for heating lava lamps, etc.).
Just having one or two incandescent bulb in the living room, in addition to LEDs, works wonder to give a cozy ambiance.
I'd say it's a bit sad to have lamps from the 70s but then stick cold LED bulbs into them (and, yes, even "warm" LEDs do feel incredibly cold): put incandescent bulbs and experience them at they were meant to be (once again: no need to replace the entire house with incandescent bulbs, just two or three here and there shall work wonder).
If your warm LEDs feel too cold, they’re not warm LEDs. Most ‘warm’ LEDs are either 3000K or 2700K, which is about the colour temperature of a standard incandescent at full brightness.
Look for 2200K LEDs – they’re actually warm and closer to a dimmed incandescent. I personally prefer 1800K, which are warmer still, but they’re much harder to find and have far fewer options in terms of brightness.
All I can think about is the 20m it would take to walk around the house and turn all of them off every time I wanted to leave the house.
I have lamp sockets – need to rewire lamps to a different kind of plug but then they can be turned on/off with ordinary light switches. They were more common in older properties when lamps were more common, then went out of fashion, though some newer (or more expensive) properties get them these days.
phillips hue
Yeap! All of them are Phillips Hue bulbs and switches.
Does that then mean the switches can't be used?
No not per se, but most people tend to stop using the switches.
The Hue basically just adds a switch inside the bulb, which can be remote controlled. The lamp's switch is still there, and functions as normal (turning on or off electricity to the bulb).
So your light is on when the lamp's switch + the hue's switch is on. It's off when either one is off.
So if your light is on, you can indeed walk to a lamp and turn the switch off to turn off the light. Or you can turn off the Hue bulb via your phone (or Philips Hue switches you can put anywhere in the house, they're basically bluetooth switches that run on a <$1 replaceable battery that lasts 2 years.
If you turn off your Hue light via your app, you can turn it back on later via the app, but not the light switch (as that's already on, but the bulb isn't).
And if you turn off your lamp via its switch, you can turn it back on later via the same switch, but not the app, as the bulb is already on but not getting power as the lamp's switch is off.
Especially with multiple people living in the house with different behaviors, that becomes annoying. So usually people choose to stop using the lamp switch and only use the Hue. You can of course hook-up the bulb to a Hue switch, so you can turn it on and off with both the switch and the app.
Bah... how pedestrian. Wago or bust!
Homekit wall plugs
Doesn't work on the Tizio unfortunately
I've had the BenQ WiT reading desk lamp for nearly five years, and it has been almost flawless until now. I always use it to light my desk when working on the computer, and it's also fine for any detail work or whenever I'm reading on the desk. It could be improved with some design changes to reduce lateral glare, but this could impact the wide throw of the light which entirely covers my desk.
I have a lamp I really really like¹:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5LS2KQW
I don't know how honeywell of all companies is selling this, but I figure they have engineers that they turned loose on and got out of their way.
It is just super nice. Elegant looking, not expensive, very high quality illumination that can get bright, smoothly dimmable with a knob. a knob to adjust lighting is a good design.
In comparison, dyson makes a lamp that is the same kind of interesting genre, but they cost 10-20x.
[1] except to turn it off is inelegant - you have to press and hold instead of tap, because tap changes color temperature.
> I don't know how honeywell of all companies is selling this
Not really the Honeywell. I tracked the lamp maker down at honeywellsmartlighting.com.
Honeywell International is licensing out the name, according to https://honeywellsmartlighting.com/pages/about-us
Good find, very interesting.
I wonder how that deal works, if and what kind of vetting Honeywell does before products are released.
I would imagine when the name is licensed, they would like to keep an eye on the type and quality of products the licensee puts out on the market
Yes, and I believe all consumer products with the Honeywell name are made by other companies that just license the trademark.
Honeywell air filters are Helen of Troy, Honeywell thermostats are Resideo, Honeywell lighting is Huo Ming Technology Guangdong, etc.
The knob is such an underrated part of this. For something you adjust constantly, a physical rotary control is just better than tapping through presets or opening an app
I got 3 of those for my workplace. They're nice. I assume Honeywell is just a brand.
Honeywell is famous for thermostats, but they do air filters and aerospace APUs and engines. I did not know they did lamps!
> I have a lamp I really really like
A lamp you love, you might say?
I love people.
People are not silently replaced by others, who gradually change to monetize your relationship.
(ok, this may not apply to teenagers)
That was a reference to "I love lamp"
I have a similar lamp that also makes you press and hold. Annoying. Yours even has that knob (mine is all touch) -- it should just have a physical detent at the end that cuts power, you know, like lots of dimmable lamps used to have.
I enjoyed the article, but I got a real kick out of how the author formats the date into the URL
Yay or nay? I can change it :)
I like it. Though I was rather hoping that /2026/10 would go to an index of posts from this month.
It's good practice I think for avoiding duplicates.
It's very fun, keep it!
The arrogance of people still inventing new lamps after the Ikea KRUX lamp is astounding
This PH5 lamp was invented in the 1950s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Henningsen
I'm not sure why anyone even tried to invent a new pendant light after the PH5. ;)
It is a great design.
I found it when looking for a lamp that doesn't expose the bulb itself, which is exactly what it was designed for.
How does it fare with modern LED bulbs? I imagine the placement of the reflectors assumes an almost-point source of light like a filament would provide, but most LED bulbs now have a plane of LEDs inside a frosted shell.
I guess would it make a noticeable difference to put an LED faux filament bulb in here? Or is it just not as fussy as I'm imagining?
I use a frosted LED bulb and don't see any reason it would work better with an incandescent bulb, i.e. it works great.
Looks like a dog
The consensus in my household is that it's a cow
lol. https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/krux-led-work-lamp-white-503254...
Had to look it up. The cable coming out of the middle section is unfortunate. I get it's supposed to be vaguely anthropomorphic so that's like a tail or something but... come on.
LMFAO it's cute!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Ikea+KRUX&ia=images&iax=images
Really loved the lamps featured here. I'm jealous of the whole setup, including the Vitsoe shelving. Saving this for inspiration when I need to revamp my home setup. Thanks for sharing!
Love the pics. Moved into a place in the 90's. Insurance agent told me, easiest way to liven up a cheap apt was to get good lighting. He was right, but I was too lazy to shop much. Only found one lamp that I really like.
It's an Ikea Torchère: kinda old now, just halogen, but I've always kept a spare "bulb" for it somewhere - replaced it every 10-20 years. I still like the weird pattern on the ceiling. :P
What a beautiful home. I love the office and desk setup specifically. The lamps are cool too.
He has a writeup about the office and desk setup too: https://arslan.io/2025/11/18/my-two-part-desk-setup/
I'd love to have enough space to have a desk facing the room rather than the wall :(
Me too! I briefly worked in a home office with the similar layout to the link above. Made such a massive difference in mood while working.
Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214311
I noticed a Toyooka Craft box in the article (on the "Louis Poulsen PH 3/2" pic), and thought "fountain pen user." This article about their setup mentions fountain pens.
Man it must be so great to have loads of money
The ones that clamp to your desk are no good. The clamp always works its way loose. I drilled a hole in the desk and ran a bolt through it, that works.
My articulating desk lamp was balanced for incandescent bulbs. The LED ones are heavier and pull it down.
What a wonderful post - I really enjoy seeing other peoples taste laid out in such an accessible manner.
I love the reference to Druk/Another Round in the section on the Louis Poulsen PH 5. Such a great film.
Thank you! And yes Druk was a really great movie.
For people who don't want to splurge on the Noguchi lamps, Aliexpress has a decent number of knockoffs.
Probably way less stable than the real deal.
We have a couple of the marset lamps that we enjoy as well. The sort of low-poly design is really fun.
I like all those cute little home decor items, too.
But honestly, I'd love for the entire ceiling to be one controllable light source. That would be perfect.
beautiful home and photos! makes me realize some people are just way cleaner than me :D
Well, I'm sure he cleaned up beforehand!
The Tizio ones, despite certainly desirable due to Sapper, are crap. Suffer from contact issues and the earlier halogen ones love to overheat. I used to refurbish them for people.
I share the author's love for nice lamps. A lamp is an object to enjoy every day, which doesn't require any time investment from us. It is just there, with one simple function: to look pleasing.
This is great. Lighting I think is the best thing to spend money on as it isn't exposed to wear and tear like furniture.
In addition to these also a huge fan of Anglepoise desk lamps, Lotte lamps and Mantis sconces.
Are we talking second hand value or re-sell potential?
What a wonderful space you have created. I have so much mindlessness in where I have things placed. I feel inspired to be a bit more purposeful and organize some things now.
I appreciate that he has several lamps with glare-reduction features. I wish more of my lights were like that.
Nice lamps, but what's with the photos very significantly stretched out of aspect ratio?
Hm how?
The picture just below the title "Tizio Micro" looking down on the lamp with the lawn behind, part of the collage of five photos, has been squished horizontally or stretched vertically quite a lot. Many of the other photos on the page have also been stretched in one direction but not the other.
Oh those, are vertically shot ones! They are not thinned. Their composition are like that. When you press/click on them you should be able to see them in full page. They look nice on the phone, but on your desktop/ipad (depending on the orientation) it might look bad yeah.
Um, no. Have a look at the two pictures just under the title "Akari 75A". They are of the same room. On the right-hand picture, the ceiling lamp is round, but on the left-hand picture, the ceiling lamp is oval.
https://pliggle.homeip.net/tmp/squished_pictures.jpg
Clicking on the pictures does nothing - are you relying on Javascript to do these things for this page?
Does anyone know what piano keyboard that is at the "HAY Apex Floor Lamp" ?
Looks like a Kiyola (https://www.roland.com/global/promos/kiyola_series/) I've been eyeing one for ages
Well spotted, thx!
Yeap it's a Kiyola. Both my kids and I love to play Piano.
I'd like to know the author's light bulb preferences
It’s almost entirely Philips Hue’s in my Room. The rest is scattered. They are all warm kelvin bulbs.
I couldn’t differentiate one of these designer lamps from an ikea lamp. They look almost the same.
Yes, Ikea copies iconic designer lamps often very closely. I thinks its great, but also love to have some select pieces as functional art.
Am I the only one who fantasized about the whole place more than the lamps?
Indeed. Having such nice lamps and or items is especially nice when you put them in a nice interior with everything perfectly finished. Put them in a messy place and or a less than perfect place and you lose a lot of the wow effect. Great place and great lamps here, congratulations to OP !
I fantasized about the possibilities of decorating a place, when said decorations do not need to be proofed against wanton destruction by young children
Have two kids, 7 and 10 years old. It’s ok if they grow with it!
Yeah, heheh, plus I think you're just getting to the fun part.
I'm in the middle of moving things around my home and dealing with cords, so the lamp cords are what I focused on.
It's a beautiful space though. He did a great job of cord management on his desk.
For me, it's a little too 50 shades of brown. I love the warm tones and clean lines, but it's all warm tones and clean lines.
No because you likely do not drench yourself in hubris daily.
Thanks for the $$ I'm about to spend :heart: :sob:
Better update that bio! It's SpaseXSI now.
Give .webp or .avif some live my friend!
It's good to have hobbies
I knew, before I had scrolled more than a page down, that you would have an Eames chair. I was not disappointed. Very nice lamp collection!
beautiful pieces <3 i inherited a big Poulson and I love it
I deeply regret not buying another suitcase to import a Tolomeo from Germany to the USA a year ago.
I have a $2.94 USB silicone lamp shaped like a duck. To each their own.
Picture myself a room of complete darkness, the lonely duck.
My 5-year-old sleeps with a silicon dog lamp.
Unrelated aside, but:
> Fun fact: “Akari” means light in Japanese, both as illumination and as lightness.
Wow! I love it when two languages have matching homonyms. I always wonder "what does it mean ?". Like, in English "second" to mean the unit of time and the place after "first" feels like two distinct usages. But it's the same in Spanish ("segundo"), which points to a deeper connection (and isn't so unsurprising given the shared roots of the languages): the unit of time is called that because it's the second subdivision of an hour.
The two usages of "light" in English are so distinct I'm quite surprised it's like this in the entirely unrelated Japanese language. Is this just a big coincidence, or does anyone know any deeper reasons here?
Unfortunately that "fun fact" is completely wrong (as other people have already pointed out, but with less conviction).
Is it though? I though akarui and karui were quite distinct, but I guess they kinda sound similar?
I'm just a beginner armed with jisho dot org, but it does seem like they're entirely different words?
https://jisho.org/word/%E6%98%8E%E3%82%8B%E3%81%84 / https://jisho.org/word/%E6%98%8E%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8A (adjective vs noun but clearly just the same word in different form)
vs
https://jisho.org/word/%E8%BB%BD%E3%81%84 (light weight)
That was my thought path as well. The closest to a noun that came to mind would be karusa. I’m far from an expert in the language, so I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
Okay, if three of us agree, it is definitely wrong.
I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but I like arigato in japanese being similar to the portuguese similar sounding word, obrigado.
For the benefit of other readers, this is (to my deep chagrin) just a coincidence. Some other fun false friends (i.e. w/ no actual etymological connection), some sillier than others:
- そう sō, "so"
- 名前 namae, "name"
- 乱暴 rambō, "violence"
- 被る kaburu, "cover"
- 孫 son, "descendant"
- 銭 sen, "one hundredth of a yen" (sounds similar to "cent")
- 買 (meaning "buy") can be read as bai
- はず hazu, "has to"
- 鈴 rin, "bell" (sounds similar to "ring")
- おい oi, "oi"
- 陰気 inki, "gloomy" (sounds similar to "inky")
And just for fun, one from Old Japanese:
- 女 womina, "woman"
The first example is not really a coincidence: a second is defined by being the second subvision of an hour.
So that example fails to support any reason for akari matching light in English. But for the sake of argument here is another one: じゃり (giari, read as "ja-ri") in Japanese means gravel and in my dialect almost the same sound (giarin, "ja-ri-n") also mean gravel. Go figure.
That was exactly my intended point (and my comment does mention the hour subdivision). There are a lot of meaningless coincidental homonyms, but these tend to not be homonyms in other languages. E.g. I dunno "left" in English would be "izquierda" or "dejó". Or conversely, "vino" in Spanish would be "wine" or "came". The fact that "second" and "segundo" have homonyms in their respective languages is a clue that the unit of time and the ordinal word are the same is not a coincidence. And when you look into it it's for the reason that you state. The homonym pairs indicates an etymological relationship between the two concepts.
So I was wondering if the same applied here. My initial reaction is that "light" meaning "illuminated" and "light" meaning "not heavy" is that this is just one of those coincidences, since I can't see how that one word relates the two concepts. But given that Japanese also does the same, it makes me wonder if maybe there is some sort of relationship. Maybe it was a common belief historically that the sun was not very heavy or something like that. Or maybe not and it's just a rare double coincidence!
At least some of these cases occur because the two concepts are related by metaphor, and cultures behind each language independently followed the same path of metaphorical expansion.
It may be more like two nearby meanings getting translated into the same English word than an independent Japanese version of the exact same homonym
I'm not sure that it's true, sadly—my dictionary, at least, only gives the illumination-related definition for akari.
Wait until you look up the many ways 分 (usually bun in compounds, but used to spell the verb wakaru) is used. (There are also more complex variants of the kanji that emphasize various nuances.)
The wakaru meaning is pretty good too, like understanding something means to break it down?
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