They’re good to glow
Always looking for the next bright idea, light designers have stumbled upon an old one. The latest innovations have a decidedly retro feel, recalling the advice given to Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate”: “I just wanna say one word to you. Just one word.... Plastics.”
Not your brittle plastics of yesteryear, these are a new generation of synthetic materials that offer soft illumination that is cool to the eye and the hand. Although they may recall the cheap-and-cheerful designs of the 1970s, these lights have a sculptural integrity that can fit with a modern split-level or bring a little 21st century brilliance into a more homespun house.
Designer Ferruccio Laviani uses polycarbonate to make the Take, created by shaping two high-gloss plastic sheets around a chamberstick base and pleated shade. The result looks like a mold for the lamp. In its hollow center, the cord and lighting fixture are visible, while the shade diffuses any glare from the bulb.
Polypropelene is the choice for designers who want to create lighting in architectural forms with structural strength. The material, which resembles wax, can be embedded with low-energy LED that gives off a soft glow.
The Italian design firm Foscarini molds it into the Yet, a 24-inch modular wall shelf available for $399 in four colors at Lampa+Mobler in Los Angeles. Polypropelene is also strong enough to serve as a side table or stool or, in the case of the Cubu-Lux, the multipurpose cube can be used as a beverage cooler, magazine rack, stackable bookshelf or outdoor planter. Beginning in July, gardening purists will be able to find 2-foot-tall plastic pots for $299 in the classic rimmed shape illuminated in nine colors imported from Holland by Bloom U.S.A. (866) 752-5666.
Plastics are also being shaped into no-candle-required paper bag-style luminarias or glowing globes as well as solar-powered string lights and orbs that can be floated in a fountain or pool (www.frontgate.com). There’s also a new breed of cute plastic bedside lamp that is shatter-resistant. Streamline’s Kam Kam, a cool white kitty cat light (shown on the cover, $45) is a feline-groovy nightstand accessory for anyone in the family, but kids will especially like Josh Owen’s illuminated Knock-Off, a regulation-sized bowling pin that turns itself off when it falls on its side.