Stockholm Design Week: new Swedish lighting brand Wästberg launched last night with task lights designed by Ilse Crawford (above), Claesson Koivisto Rune, James Irvine and Jean-Marie Massaud.

Claesson Koivisto Rune w08 by Claesson Koivisto Rune

A task lamp is a highly technical object. Rotation mechanism, arm reach, counter balance, degree of efficiency, safety… It must all be there. How to use it must be self-explanatory to anyone. Hiding all the mechanics and electronics left a no-nonsense design. This lamp almost designed itself. Arm, elbow, head. And light.

Irvine w08 by James Irvine (above)

The theme of the task lamp is one of those design projects which always has to measure itself with great masterpieces from the past. Hundreds have been invented over the years. Some of them so brilliant that they are hard to beat. They are full of springs and knobs and complicated hinges. Sure, you can design another one of these but my feeling is that perhaps there is the space for a simplified mechanism. An object which is calm. It does move, but does not do everything. For me that‘s enough and maybe for some other people too.

Massaud w08 by Jean-Marie Massaud (above)

It‘s about Light.
It‘s about gravity and non gravity.
It‘s about reduction and competency.
It‘s about simplicity, lightness, effortlessness.
It‘s about synthesis.
It‘s about mood

Studioilse w08 by Ilse Crawford (above)

Materials have hidden messages. These create a powerful link to our emotional psyches and shape our connection to daily life.

Our light is a sturdy friend, unpretentious and always there for us. We have chosen honest materials that carry clear messages: iron for its feelings of stability, reliability, trust; wood with its warmth and life, and porcelain for its intimate glow, as well as its tactility.

Then we have put these three together for a certain oddness. This is because there is an innate awkwardness in the directional light that we wanted to amplify - rather as with people this is a sympathetic quality not a sin.