Tag Archives: light

Divoom Pixoo Max Takes Pixel Art to the Max

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Having grown up in the 1980s, I have a real fondness for pixel art. There are lots of ways to make pixel art of your own these days beyond using programs like Deluxe Paint, from melting Perler beads together to making images with 1×1 LEGO bricks. The Divoom Pixoo Max lets you make pixel art images and animations using a grid of colorful LEDs.

Its 9.6″ screen features a 32 x 32 grid of RGB LED pixels which can be programmed with a companion smartphone app. You can pick from numerous still and animated images in the Divoom Pixel Gallery or create your own. In addition, it can be programmed to display notifications from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or to display the time or weather.

The Pixoo Max has a built-in stand or can be mounted on your fridge, a wall, or even your car windows. Since it runs on a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, you can use it on the road. It’s available from Amazon (affiliate link) for $109.99.

This incredible floor-lamp design surrounds your armchair with a ring, giving you a sliding, adjustable halo of light

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The Ring Light is quite unlike any lamp I’ve ever seen. Sure, the name ‘Ring Light’ might ring a bell to some photographers (I couldn’t resist that pun), but this one isn’t a light that’s shaped like a circle… Instead, it comes mounted on a ring-shaped stand that fits around your seating.

The stand plays a few pretty interesting roles – Firstly, it really just acts as a wonderful accent to your furniture. The way the circular stand ‘outlines’ your favorite reading chair is just beautiful to look at, and brings visual emphasis to your seating in a powerful way. Secondly, the circular ring serves as a sliding rail for the Ring Light. The light sits on the rail and can be moved around anywhere, giving you a controllable directional light-source instead of a boring stationary one. You can adjust the light’s angle and direction simply by sliding it around, either for being able to read better, or for selfies with dramatic lighting! Finally, a nifty little side-table on the left of the ring lets you rest your books, phone, or cup of coffee/tea on it. Pretty neat, eh?

Designer: Richard Malachowski

The light works on its own too (you don’t NEED to add furniture to it), but it brings on a new meaning the minute you introduce seating to the mix. Given its size, it can only fit a single-seater within it, and really works with any sort of furniture-style, from an armchair to an ottoman, to even a beanbag if you choose. My only bit of advice is to watch your head when you get up!

Slide the circular Elina light out of its cover to illuminate your home. Watch the video!

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Bibliophile’s all over the world agree there is no such thing as too many books, nor is any such thing as too many lights to keep your cozy corners lit. For the exact moment when you want to keep your lamp handy but not have it occupy real estate when not in use, the Elina was created!

The Elina by Dirk Vosding stands on the shelf like a classic book and performs its function as a bookend. But if it’s pulled out slowly, the disc inside begins to glow and sheds more and more light on the surrounding books. When pulled out completely, the illuminated circle serves as a reading light. The Elina sits in a sleeve when not in use, keeping the light itself clean and free of dust. It functions without any switches as such, the interactive nature of the device works as an on/off mechanism. The inner light disc comes to about a 60% of a circle, not the entire disc though that would have been a better touch. The disc can also be rotated to add some targeted lighting in any space.

Fun quirky, and an accent when it is in use – the Elina is the perfect light you need. With my bookshelf always overflowing and me reading late into the night, I would love to have this light around for some uninterrupted reading time that won’t disturb anyone around me with any clicking noises. Best of all, slide it closed with your book, and you are good to go!

Designer: Dirk Vosding

This ultra-portable adventure light snaps onto your gear or bicycle to keep you outdoor ready!

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For outdoorsy enthusiasts, some accessories are an absolute necessity – portable outdoor light being one of them. A headlamp solves a wide range of purposes when out on an adventure trip but there is still room for improvement, don’t you think? Sure, a small design evolution can bring a totally unseen functionality to something as simple as a compact light that you can carry in a backpack or even the front pocket of the pants. More so in modern times when life is an adventure unknown, whether going on a hiking trip, camping escapades or simply biking on the outskirts of the city for fitness.

Cha Hongkun, a designer from China has pondered over tweaking the design of a portable light to an extent where it addresses an even wider array of activities. Cha calls it the “Ray” – an outdoor accompanying portable light with a never before seen form factor. It’s essentially a wide strap that can be hooked onto your bike, backpack, or anything one can think of. It goes without saying – Ray is an outdoor essential accessory that’ll never let you down. The ease of use and portable credentials make it one accessory I would want in my absolute essentials for a trip anywhere.

The portable LED light can be charged with a USB-C compatible power bank or via a wall outlet. What’s got me hooked on here is the cool choice of colors the designer has penned for Ray. The royal blue, cool blue, and bright orange are all so tempting. Plus that hook-on functionality is truly unique for an ultra-portable personal light. Take my money and tell me it’s going to hit the shelves pretty soon!

Designer: Cha Hongkun

DIY Rocket Ship Night Light Kit: For Space Dreams

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Space: the final frontier. I mean at least according to Star Trek. I always thought the final frontier was death. But enough deep philosophizing, this is the $28 DIY Rocket Night Light Decoration available from Apollo Box. The kit includes everything you need to make a rocket ship night light like the one seen above, provided you have the necessary do-it-yourself skills. I’m… not very confident.

Available in both battery and USB powered models, the kit includes a string of lights, clear base, cotton “smoke”, plastic tube armature (to hold the rocket up), and modeling clay and paint to shape and decorate the rocket ship. It also includes two hot glue sticks (gun not included) to stick everything together. As you can see in the video below, the kit is VERY do-it-yourself. Or, in my case, very honey-can-you-please-do-it-for-me.

So you’re basically responsible for making the whole thing from scratch. And do you know what happened the last time I tried to make something from scratch? Everybody who ate the lasagna got sick, and now I don’t get invited to pot-lucks anymore. Food for thought.

This inflatable camping light goes from a lantern to a tube light to get you outdoor ready!

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Portable lights come in all shapes and sizes with a plethora of designs. But this one uses air to blow up into a full sized design! Everglow Light Tube by Klymit stands out from the rest for a design that’s both functional and highly useful in a number of situations. Klymit being an outdoor gear company very obviously has tailored this inflatable light for camping and adventure enthusiasts, but I can think of dozen other uses as well!

The inflatable function, you can literally expand the light like a balloon, solves two inherent purposes – diffusing the light so that it doesn’t hurt the eyes and spread easily, and the other is of course the portability aspect. A pocketable design that is ideal for any adventure, or even at home for emergency  use. The flexibility of the form factor permits it to be used as a hanging LED light – stick it to your base camp ceiling to use as a lantern, or attach like a hanging light to the awning. Everglow Light Tube is powered by a USB input – so you can attach it to a power bank or any other USB outlet. There’s a light dimming function to easily go from low light for reading to a blazing light for cooking with a click!

This portable light brings so much to the table – be it your camping adventures, off-road escapades, or the odd hiking trip up the mountains. It’s been designed in a way to add convenience and versatility to how we are accustomed to using portable lights. Simply stuff it in the corner of your backpack, and when the need arises, inflate it to a full-sized tube light to light up your dark nights under the starry skies.

Designer: Klymit

Click Here to Buy Now!

This flatpack origami-inspired product unfolds into a layered lamp for a modern yet space-saving light design!

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Flat-packed designs are really quite intriguing! They’re portable, easy to put together, and occupy minimum space. From foldable furniture designs to photo studios and stationery, there’s nothing that cannot be flat-packed. These designs, not only rate high on space efficiency, but also eliminate the usage of heavier space-consuming designs. They are definitely functionally and ergonomically beneficial, but they also possess minimal and clean aesthetics, that allow them to harmoniously blend with any living space. Flat-packed designs are the future!

Spinel is a hanging light designed to be easily transformed. The main goal was to create a product that didn’t take up too much space and was also sustainable. “Our responsibility as designers is to produce objects that occupy the smallest possible volume. The purpose is to use the least amount of raw material, producing long-lifespan objects that can be easily recycled,” says Guille Cameron. The origami-like form is minimal, elegant, and certainly unique. Unfolding the lamp adds a dynamic layer to the product and the wooden design itself is a warm addition to any space.

While there is no doubt this lamp is a stunner, it is a statement piece in the holistic development of a product, making it an example for industrial designers across the globe!

Designer: Guille Cameron





Make Your Own Rubik’s Cube Inspired Wooden LED Light

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Inspired by the classic look of a Rubik’s Cube, Instructables user blueboxes has created a step-by-step guide for building your very own mini light cube, a wood and acrylic cube that glows along all the seams between the smaller cubes. I can already imagine myself staring at it when I can’t fall asleep at night.

The cube is constructed of 26 smaller wooden cubes with pieces of cut acrylic between each (all held together with superglue), with no cube in the center of the bottom or middle layers so you can insert the LEDs and power cord. Blueboxes mentions following his tutorial will create a cube light that’s about 6.6cm square (a traditional Rubik’s Cube is 5.6cm square), but the design can be scaled up or down to your liking.

I’m going to build one with color-changing LEDs and paint all the exposed wooden sides to resemble a Rubik’s Cube even more. Or accidentally glue my head to my workbench. Either way, my wife will just be happy I spent some time in the garage so she could watch her shows in peace.

[via Instructables]

This portable lantern’s battery was designed to be recharged using ocean water

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This low-cost high-innovation LED lamp uses saltwater to recharge its batteries! Labeled the WaterLight, it was designed for neighborhoods with little to no access to electricity. Instead of requiring a traditional power outlet to replenish its batteries, the WaterLight uses a water-activated magnesium battery that causes a reaction when it comes in contact with brine. This effectively means the WaterLight can be charged via ocean water, regular salt water, or in emergency cases, even urine.

Designed by Colombian start-up E-Dina in collaboration with creative agency Wunderman Thompson, the lamp hopes to act as a stand-in for solar-powered lamps. The WaterLight is much more efficient than a solar-powered lamp, generating much more energy than a solar panel would. “WaterLight can be more efficient than solar energy lanterns because it regenerates instantly,” said Pipe Ruiz Pineda, executive creative director of Wunderman Thompson Colombia. “Once filled with water, the energy delivery is immediate while solar lanterns need to transform solar energy to alternative energy to charge batteries and they only work if there is sun.”

Almost a billion people have no access to electricity, according to World Health Organization data. That’s roughly 14% of the world that has to live in the darkness for half of the day. This stops them from being able to work and live, and makes it difficult for kids to study past dusk too. The WaterLight was designed to help them easily and effectively combat this situation without relying on a power grid. The light comes made from entirely recyclable materials that are water-resistant too. Inlets on the top of the lamp let water flow in, while the LEDs at the bottom provide 45 days of electricity with just half a liter of salt water.

The design of the WaterLight is inspired by the Colombian Wayuu community, an indigenous tribe with a strong ancestral connection to the sea. Living practically isolated from civilization, the tribes still rely on fishing and handicrafts to sustain themselves – activities that can’t be done after dark. The WaterLight puts a powerful portable light in each household. Fishermen can take the light out to sea and use its canoe-friendly design to suspend it to their boats. Craftswomen, on the other hand, can use the lamp after dark to work on their art, and their children can use it to study after sunset.

Water-activated magnesium batteries aren’t new, although their applications are few and far apart. The Solar Desalination Light (a finalist at the Lexus Design Award 2021) uses a similar solution to power lights at night while using the sun during the day to purify the ocean’s salty water for consumption. The WaterLight on the other hand, focuses on providing a versatile, portable, and efficient light that can be recharged using limited resources available to the users. For good measure, the lamps even work as mini generators, and a USB port on one side of the lamp lets you charge small devices with it like a smartphone, giving you access to communication and even to emergency services, should you ever need them.

Designer: E-Dina in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson