Cologne 2014: the colour temperature of this series of LED lamps by Rotterdam designer Arnout Meijer can be adjusted to create different moods throughout the day (+ movie).
Meijer presented the project as part of the [D3] Design Talents exhibition at imm cologne trade fair last week.
He designed the Thanks for the Sun series in response to the need for light that fulfils different roles - providing bright white light for working and aiding concentration, and a warmer, more soothing hue to help people relax before bed.
"When you think about a lamp design, you design everything but the light: you design the shade, construction, base, etc but in the end you just screw the light in," Meijer told Dezeen. "I wanted to turn that around and let light play the main character. So I wanted to make a lamp series where the design and the shape was about the light."
Each of the acrylic lamps incorporates an inner and outer strip of LEDs that can be adjusted using a dial or slider to change the colour of the light from a bright white to a warmer red or yellow.
Light from the LEDs spreads across the surface and catches lines that have been milled into the transparent acrylic.
The patterns feature wavy lines that transition into smooth shapes as they radiate from the inner form to the outer edge.
"When I decided that I wanted to change between warm and cool light I thought it was important that when the character of the light changes, the character of the lamp changes as well," explained Meijer.
"When you see a drawing of a light bulb from the end of the nineteenth century there is always a sort of wave-like pattern, which mimics glowing," the designer added. "Whereas cool white light is more modern and straight, like the hard line of a fluorescent tube."
The collection comprises a narrow table lamp, a round table table and a larger wall lamp.
Meijer originally designed the lamps during his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven and is now using them as the basis for experiments on a larger scale, which he says will eventually result in a series of limited edition light sculptures.
Photography is by Femke Rijerman.
