01 PRODUCTS OF THE MONTH
Shadow play with shining image
Is it possible? A picture on the wall without having to bang in a nail? Indeed it is! Dennis Thies together with Radius’s MD Michael Rösing, has designed the shining image collection for ABSOLUT LIGHTING. The Cologne artist and Beuys student has created a total of five motif plates which produce quirky, original images on the wall.
Pictures which are not really pictures, which cannot be touched and nevertheless rekindle the fascination of kindergarten. 1 Bird, Birdie building nest, Man with hat, Drunkard, and three birds are just some of Theis’s two-dimensional sculptures which communicate without words through ciphers.
Behind the beautiful illusion is a high-tech and perfect execution. The small sculpture is fixed in front of a projection light, casting a high-contrast enlargement of the motif plate onto any vertical surface when the light is switched on. The floor lamps which offer more than just light are made of steel, carbon and aluminum, in heights of 180 or 75 cm and are equipped with touch-o-matic slide-control. Price: from EUR 189.
02 EVENT OF THE YEAR
Bye, bye, light bulbs or LED it be
The cold light of energy-saving lamps could endanger population growth, as ‘Stern’ magazine recently quipped in the warning cartoon it ran. It could indeed be that intimate evenings with someone close will not be quite as cozy when the good old light bulb has disappeared from our apartments. After all, it has been warming our eyes, hearts and homes for 130 years, as that is how long ago it is since it was discovered by Thomas Alva Edison. But it is not only ‘Stern’ who is worried, as the hoarding actions of the past weeks have shown. Light designers, sleep researchers and many other critics have not and will not abandon their plea for the good old light of classical light bulbs.
But it doesn’t help: As of September 1, the EU has switched the light off on all opaque and 100-watt light bulbs. By 2012 all bulbs are dues to have disappeared. This means: Light bulbs out, energy-saving lamps in! True, energy saving lamps have an image problem. Their light appears cold, they require a ‘second’s silence’ to light up, many cannot be dimmed and they look strange. They are also expensive.
Experts have calculated that Germany will blow 3.5 million tons less CO2 into the atmosphere once the light bulb has really become history. That sounds good. But many reservations show that energy-saving lamp may not be the end of the development in beautiful, healthy lights. And as for cozy evenings? What are candles for then? Or just go ahead and turn the light off!