Booo : Lightbulbs

To contrast the conventional concept of fragile and cold glass bulbs, Eindhoven design team Booo has challenged Front, Nacho Carbonell and Formafantasma – 3 of the most creative design studios on the scene – to re-think the concept of a light bulb. 

Booo bulbs blend the lamp with the light bulb and makes the light bulb become the lamp … blurring the boundary between lightsource and lampshade. I discovered them at Maison&Objet in September and loved this avant-garde design! Booo LED bulbs are a new category in the illumination segment and will soon be accessible for the consumer market.

 

‘We were inspired by the long life of an LED lamp. Its burning time of almost ten years makes it possible to create a lamp you never need to change the bulb of. The inner dome softens the light and creates the illusion of a lamp without a bulb’ says Front.

Soft bulb designed by Spanish design talent Nacho Carbonell is made of rubber. The durable nature of the material makes the bulb soft yet unbreakable, easily manipulated and can be pinched or squeezed.

Inspired by the four classical elements, earth, air, fire and water, Nacho Carbonell has incorporated subtle references to these through the design of his hand made lightbulb. In an ingenious way, water in the bulb creates a sea-like light reflection from the light source, (the representation of fire) into the environment where the bulb is placed. Additionally, the user can interact with the lightbulbs size by pumping air into the lightbulb, another reference to an element.
This in turn changes the reflection of the water in the bulb. Be it by inflating or by pouring, hanging or floating, this lightbulb demands from us that we play with it and define how we would like to use it, and always with subtle references to the earth, air, fire and water.

Lampshade bulbs made in polycarbonate, in small, medium and large size, designed by Swedish design studio Front.

Light Species bulb made of polycarbonate, by the Italian design duo Formafantasma. Taking organic forms like an asymmetrical leaf, the bulb ‘is intended to be used either as a single piece or as a forest of lit leaves’.

The organic reference is explicit on the light designed by Studio Formafantasma which looks as if a traditional bulb has been stopped in the process of transforming into a leaf. Unusually asymmetrical the light is meant to be use as a single piece or as a flock of glowing leafs. With the limited edition the organic world is not anymore only a formal reference. As a continuation of the previous work of the studio ‘Botanica’, the vessel of the bulb is produced with a 19th century material re-developed by Formafantasma composed by a polymer extracted from insect excrement that colonize trees mixed with wood powder.

Soft bulb by Nacho Carbonell … with a ladder !

Soft bulb by Nacho Carbonell – the process.

Lampshade bulb by Front – the process.

Soft bulb by Nacho Carbonell – the process.

Light Species bulb by Formafantasma – the process.

Me, squeezing the thing! Photo © flodeau.com at Maison&Objet, Sept 2012.

Photos © Booo on Facebook

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