Everything was better in ancient times. Modern things are dangerous.
That‘s why I go to work at my studio riding a horse.
When you shed a tear over the extinction of the incandescent bulb, many
people think you are just being nostalgic. But for us it is something different:
we mourn losing a component of our lighting toolbox. And it is an unequaled
component of that toolbox.
Maybe the bulbs measurable characteristics do not meet requirements in
a pragmatic perspective. But its distinct character can be sensed by ... well,
maybe not by everyone, but at least by most of the people not working in
the lamp-law producing office.
When I make lamps and lighting, I work like in a laboratory: my team and I
develop things by building them in a most attentive and observing manner.
That is why we developed a feeling for things you cannot quantify. A light
fixture cannot be judged when it has been drawn, even though you already
know its “lumen”, “kelvin” and “ra”, and its relation to the Planckian locus. It‘s
the moment of switching it on, that tells you a lot about your design in an
instant.
We are very happy about the discussion on how to save energy in lighting.
This generated a lot of energy for inventions and innovations in lighting
technology. Whenever a new technology appears, I am there to try it out.
Our lighting toolbox is huge and filled with high-tech as well as low-tech,
with ordinary and exotic things, with useful and useless techniques, with
lighting punch and gentle shimmer, with Aah and Argh ...
This helps me to find the perfect light for any lamp, for any room, for any
situation. Can you understand why we are so upset that the amazing incan-
descent bulb is taken away from us? The bulb and its light has been a special
piece in our toolbox - its light has a very special quality, its shape is simple
yet most beautiful.
I don‘t want to talk about how difficult it is to recycle a compact fluorescent
lamp anymore. Nor about how many hours a day you use the lamp above
your dining table, how little energy is used for lighting when compared to
other electrical appliances at home, nor about colour spectrums of different
kind of light sources and the colours we see and the feelings we experience
in a certain kind of light.
We just want to name and shame the extinction of the incandescent bulb,
a little, harmless yet powerful widget that makes light in a way you can not
simulate.
I. M.
First published in DAMN°26, October 2010
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