booo reinvents the bulb

booo studio is a new Dutch design company composed of a team coming from different fields and countries to work where avant garde design and mass production collide. We just love their innovative and playful ethos, as illustrated by an exciting new range of light bulb designs. Working with Nacho Carbonell, Front Design and Formafantasma, they have re-imagined one of the most conventional items in the home.

The result of their creative research is two collections of light bulbs: one meant for mass production, and one more experimental limited edition. The main collection is designed to eliminate the need for any additional lamp or lamp shade: the bulb itself becomes the lamp. Thanks to new LED technology, these designers have approached the design of a light bulb with full freedom. They’ve created products that combine state of the art technology with revolutionary aesthetics. booo aims to play a new role into the design industry as a connector between two worlds which have hitherto been separated. Their work effectively represents a laboratory for future use of LED resources.

Here are some of our favourite designs from their latest collections:

Nacho Carbonell

The new LED technology has enabled booo to use different materials that were unavailable in the tungsten bulb era. With this idea in mind, Nacho sought to use a material that can have the same durability as the LEDs, creating a product that can last as long as the LED technology provides. Adapting the new technology to all kinds of environments, and with the idea of durability in mind, Nacho uses rubber to shape the body of the light bulbs, making the LED lightbulb unbreakable and pliable, boldly challenging the conception of a light bulb as a cold, fragile item

Inspired by the four classical elements – earth, air, fire and water – Nacho Carbonell has incorporated subtle references to these through the design of his hand made light bulb. In an ingenious way, water in the bulb creates a sea-like light reflection from the light source (the representation of fire) into the environment where the bulb is placed. Additionally, the user can modify the bulb’s size by pumping air into it, referencing the element of air. This in turn changes the reflection of the water in the bulb. Whether by inflating, pouring, hanging or floating, this light bulb invites us to play with it and define how we would like to use it.

Studio Formafantasma

The organic reference is made explicit in the light designed by Studio Formafantasma, which looks like a traditional bulb transforming into a leaf. Unusually asymmetrical, the light can either be used as a single piece or as a grouping of glowing leafs. As a continuation of previous work by the studio, the vessel of the bulb is produced with a 19th century material re-developed by Formafantasma. It is in fact made of a polymer extracted from the excrement of insects that colonise trees, mixed with wood powder.

Front Design

Lampshade Bulb

“We were inspired by the long life of an LED lamp. Its burning time of almost ten years makes it possible to create a lamp you never need to change the bulb.”

The inner dome softens the light and creates the illusion of a lamp without a bulb, blurring the boundary between light source and lampshade.

Surface Tension Lamp

VISI’s personal favourite! A bubble is brief, and bursts at your touch. But while it lasts, it catches the light and reflects the room like a multi-coloured temporary structure. Front Design wanted to create a constantly changing lamp that combines the most ephemeral of lampshades with an LED light source that will last for 50 000 hours. In the time it takes the LED to burn out, the lamp will have had 3 million different globe shades.

Check out the video of the Surface Tension Lamp in action:

www.booo.nl