Finally, I’m back off the road and can do things like post for my many one reader.
Today’s cool lamp comes from Dutch designer Teresa van Dongen, who designed a lamp that she calls Ambio that uses a species of bioluminescent bacteria in the genus Photobacterium, which she has isolated from octopodes1. She writes on her site that she was inspired by the way these organisms emit light in seawater in response to the motion of waves, and the results are certainly magical:
The lamp consists of a tube filled with “Artificial Seawater Medium” (Saltwater?) balanced with a weight on the other end. In order to make the lamp “light up”, one has to give it a little push to agitate the water inside, as the bacteria respond to the presence of oxygen, hence the reason for the open valve on top.
Ambio, bacterial lamp by Teresa van Dongen from Teresa van Dongen on Vimeo.
Not terribly practical, at least for now, but certainly enchantingly beautiful, and the minimalistic hanging counterweight design is gorgeous.