Currently a mere concept, the geniuses behind Ions dream that their invention will have a magnetic base, a pivoting hinge and possibly a dimming function.

You can help make Ions a real product by going to Kickstarter Quirky and answering a short survey regarding its development.

[via Fancy]

It’s made by artist Zairy Zin, using selective laser sintering 3D printing tech, and is a detailed version of Vader’s trademark helmet – other than the thousands of tiny holes in it to let the light shine through. The lamp is designed to go on a table, and the Sith Lord’s helmet measures about 5.12″ across. This means it’s more of an accent lamp than something you’d expect to light up an entire room with, but it’s not like I ever expected anything light to come out of Vader’s evil mask anyhow.

The white version is a limited edition, and sells for a rather pricey $585(USD) – but that doesn’t make it any less special in my book – though it does make me wonder where the black version is. If I had the money to spare, I’d definitely get a pair of these for my living room to flank my couch – or better yet, I’d love to have Vader on one side and a stormtrooper on the other. Too bad there is no stormtrooper lamp (yet.)

[via SUATMM]

Instead of plugging this IV bag into one of your veins, simply connect it to a USB port on your computer or a USB power adapter, and it’ll glow. There’s a small grid of LEDs inside, which can provide blue, white or orange light depending on the version you buy. You can even fill it with water, without risk of damaging the light – though the idea of a water-filled light plugged into an outlet or my laptop kind of freaks me out.

I suppose that these might be cool filled with fake blood for a Halloween decoration – assuming you like to get all your Halloween shopping done in April. Personally, I HATE hospitals, so I don’t see the appeal in having these hanging in your house, but if you actually get pleasure from being hooked up to an IV (or hooking people up to them,) feel free to order some. They’re available over at Japan Trend Shop for $37(USD) each.

This beautiful Triforce lamp, with it’s soft glow comes from Etsy seller TheBackPackShoppe and sets the mood quite nicely, whether you are exploring Hyrule or just relaxing with a book. It can be hung on the wall or displayed on your table.

It’s made with a poplar frame, a birch face, and the Triforce is yellow acrylic. Even for those who don’t know the Zelda games, it’s a great lamp design. The Triforce lamp will cost you $95(USD) and it looks well worth the price.

[via IGN via Nerd Approved]

These sculptures by John V. Muntean might not look like much at first. In fact, they look like randomly shaped sculptures that are a mix of geometric shapes, curves, and holes. The trick here is to shine a light at just the right angle, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you might (and might not) see:

John describes his sculptures like so:

A Magic Angle Sculpture appears to be nothing more than an abstract wooden carving, skewered with a rod and mounted on a base. However, when lit from above and rotated at the magic angle (54.74º) it will cast three alternating shadows. Every 120º of rotation, the amorphous shadows evolve into independent forms. Our scientific interpretation of nature often depends upon our point of view. Perspective matters.

Here are some more videos that show off two more of John’s sculptures in action:

[via Neatorama via Colossal Art + Design]

You can arrange and re-arrange the pattern anyway you like, as often as you like. This desk lamp is scheduled to launch in September 2012 for $50(USD). That’s not bad at all for a lamp this cool. I’d pay twice that. No, not really, but it’s a great price – assuming it includes all of the bricks shown.

If you use this in the office everyone will be gathering at your desk to play with it, so you probably won’t get much work done. The only thing missing here is the Tetris music, which I’m sure you can provide easily.

[via Chip Chick via Gizmodo]

Chen Wei & Lu Yanxin’s unusual concept uses the swing to capture the kinetic energy generated by swinging people to power the light. The design is interesting and I could see this working well on a playground for kids with swinging providing the light to use when it’s dark. I wonder if the the swing itself would be slowed by the power generation equipment, though.

If the parts to grab the kinetic energy were too hard to move, it wouldn’t be much of a swing. The light also has a solar panel on top for supplemental energy collection, but the creators say that the storage of kinetic energy is much more efficient than solar power. I can also see this concept as being something nice for a backyard creating the light for outdoor play at night.

[via Yanko Design]

The Aurelia Lamp is inspired by the shape and transparency of the Aurelia aurita, or Moon Jellyfish, but instead of being illuminated by environmental light (yes jellyfish don’t actually glow on their own,) this one gets its light from a ring of LEDs.

I just love the way the fixture casts its otherworldly glow. Each lamp is made from PMMA clear acrylic and measures 18.4″ (H) x 14″(W) x 14″ (D). The LEDs it uses are rated at 50,000 hours, so you won’t have to worry about them burning out any time soon. As an added bonus, the lamp uses just 18 watts of power, thanks to its energy-efficient lighting tech.

The Aurelia is available in three jeweltone colors, and it offers a three-way “touch ring” dimmer for adjusting brightness. It’s designed to work with circuits ranging from 100-240V AC and 50-60Hz – though I’m not sure if you need to buy different adapters depending on where you live.

You can find the Aurelia Lamp over at All Modern for $495 (USD).

The Darth Maul Lightsaber Room Light works by means of LEDs, and makes Jedi quake in its presence. FEAR ME AND MY PHOTONS, JEDI. Plus, if you leave it on for a really really really long time, you might just be able to use it like a real lightsaber! You also might be able to accidentally burn down your house while playing with a collector’s lamp. Whoops.

It sells for $40 (USD), and is available from Barnes and Noble, that place that sells books (and Nooks.) “Why do they have a giant Star Wars lamp?” They probably figured out that nobody likes reading anymore. Let’s be honest – if you’re reading this sentence, you’re one of the few. Everybody else just looks at the pictures, clicks the Tweet button, and moves on to the next post with pretty lights in it.

If you’re looking for more geeky Star Wars light sources, you should hop on over to the Star Wars Lightsaber Lighted Sneakers and the Light Up Star Wars Poker Set.

Contributor Jack Kieffer owns Cool Gizmo Toys, a blog that rants about random geeky products.

The base of each of these 26 inch-tall lamps is a perfect replica of either the lightsaber donned by Anakin Skywalker, or the one Darth Vader later carried. The Anakin design features the symbol of the Jedi Knights on it, while the Vader one has the Empire’s seal. Both project the pattern onto the wall surrounding the shade, which makes for a cool effect too. Of course, you’ll want to go with a blue bulb for the Jedi, and a red bulb for the Empire.

You can find both the Anakin and Darth Vader lightsaber lamps from Firebox, where they’re available for pre-order now for about $110(USD) . They expect to ship in “8+” weeks, which could mean you’ll have one by April, or it could mean 100 years from now. Also, since they’re being sold in the UK, you’ll probably need to swap out the power cord or go with a power-converter to use them outside of England.

With Luminarie De Cagna’s cathedral however, it’s not so much on the culture or intricacies. Instead, it’s all about the light. And not the light streaming in from the stained glass windows as you’d expect from other cathedrals, either. What I mean is the light that’s emanating from the 55,000 LED lights that make up this massively beautiful structure.

Luminarie De Cagna built this structure that was unveiled and put on display in the recent 2012 Light Festival that was held in Ghent, Belgium. The cathedral of lights stood at an impressive 28 meters and was truly a sight to behold.

[via Colossal]

(Image credits: Stijn Coppens, Sacha Vanhecke, Sector271)

The project is aimed at making a roof for a car that would allow the people inside to see out at during the day and capture solar energy as well. Then at night, the roof turns into a glowing OLED light. I think the windows of homes could someday use this technology too. They could capture solar power during the day to power the house and then turn into room lighting at night.

The OLED light is only 1.8mm thick and provides a uniform and soft glow across the entire surface. By combining this with an invisible solar panel, you get power and light in one device without blocking your view. Apparently, the technology is being developed for the sunroof of Daimler’s unusual Smart Forvision concept EV, shown below:

[via TG Daily and OLED-Info]

These lamp designs were created using i.materialize’s 3D printed table lamp kit, which provides everything you need to design and output your own 3D printed lighting fixture. The 3D table lamp kit includes a lamp base, dimmer, halogen bulb, a metal base and fittings to hold the shade in place. Using a provided design template for popular 3D modeling software (including free apps like Google SketchUp and Blender) you design your shade and upload your 3D file it for printing.

You can check out a number of example designs over on flickr, and read up on the design guide (PDF) before deciding to make the investment in one for yourself. And if it’s feeling like it’s a little over your head, you can always choose one of their nifty already designed lamps.

The 3D printed lamp kit sells for €199 (~$260 USD) over at i.materialize. Be sure to specify whether you need a U.S. or European plug when you order.

The SEQINETIC reverse sunglasses were designed and created by a gang of mechanical engineers from Copenhagen. Compared to coffee and sugar, the reverse sunglasses offer a calorie-free way to beat the winter blues. They offer bright, white daylight in a portable form factor. The glasses feature 6 powerful LEDs and a reflector, which pushes diffuse, simulated sunlight towards your eyeballs. The reflector is said to be brighter at the top than at the bottom, much like the way you might view the Sun, and you can still view items underneath the reflector if you need to.

In order get the glasses, you’ll need to pledge $55 (USD). Once the project is funded to its $8,000 goal, the glasses will sell for $80.

[via core77]

First up is the Optimus Popularis, a compact keyboard with everything but numeric keys. The Popularis is one awesome looking keyboard, with each key offering full programmability, and a tiny, full color screen.

Each key is made up of a 64×64 pixel grid, which can support 262,144 unique colors, and a frame rate of 10fps. That’s right, you can display animation on these keys!  Each one can be set up with custom images for different languages, or special keys to launch specific applications or functions when switching applications. Lebedev says it’s “A million keyboards in one,” and he’s totally spot on. Here are just a few sample configurations:

One thing to note is that the keys this time are made using a backlit LCD screen instead of individual OLED screens, which seems like a better approach these days. Though it’s not clear if each key has it’s own individual LCD panel or if there’s just one large LCD behind the keyboard, and the area between the keys acts as a mask. Either way, it still looks awesome. I also love how the new keys are more like those rounded keys found on a Mac keyboard, which is more what I’m used to these days anyhow.

A quick glance reveals a fully customizable display bar between the function keys and the main keyboard, which can be used to display pertinent info like what track you’re listening to, or how many emails you have waiting.

Programming is accomplished with a sophisticated configuration app included with the keyboards – and it’s compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 8 and Mac OS 10.5.1 or higher too.

So now that you’ve wiped the drool off of your current keyboard… the pricetag. The Optimus Popularis isn’t cheap. The pre-order price is 31,500 rubles, which works out to be about $1086 (USD) or 747 (EUR) at today’s exchange rates. Pricey, but sexy as all get out. If that’s too rich for your blood, and you still love the concept, check out the Optimus Mini Six add-on keyboard instead:

The Mini Six is exactly what it sounds like – a small external keyboard with six programmable LCD keys on it. It supports the same programmability,  and animation capabilities of the full-size keyboard – though it only can handle 65,536 colors. The Mini Six is selling for for 10,900 Rubles, or about $376(USD) or $258 (EUR). Both the Popularis and Mini Six are built from aluminum and plastic components, and have a nice slim profile.

Art Lebedev Studio started to take pre-orders for both the Optimus Popularis and Optimus Mini Six today, with the Popularis shipping June 1, 2012, and the Mini Six not shipping until November 1, 2012. But there is an advantage to that long pre-order wait, as the retail prices will be more than 30% higher once released. Yeouch! Lebedev, does plan on showing off the prototypes at the 2012 CES show next month. I definitely plan on stopping by their booth to see these awesome looking things up close and personal.

Lexon designer Fellina Sok-Cham came up with the idea for this nifty Bag Light. It just hangs from the strap of your bag, clipped into place securely with a magnetic carabiner, and providing handy illumination inside your bag with the push of a button. It’s made of soft silicone rubber, so it won’t scratch up the contents of your bag, and offers bright, diffuse LED illumination.

The Bag Light is available over at the MoMA Store for just $9 (USD).

There’s even a handy spare power outlet on the back if you need to plug in another device. The light it emits is diffused, making it a nice ambient light source.

The lamp is definitely unusual, but it’s not just made for fun. It was also meant as a critique of the homogenized nature of construction materials in the U.S. It’s true that most light switches and outlets do look similar, especially in older homes. Hopefully, it will inspire people to use less ordinary materials and light switches when designing their homes.

[via core77]

Instead of putting up just the usual tree this year, the Holburne Museum in Bath, England decided that they wanted to do something different and called in an artist to do their lights for them. And boy, did Bruce Munro get creative with the lights.

He painstakingly connected and set up over 5,000 glass spheres to come up with the Field of Lights on the grounds of the museum. The bulbs are planted on the ground, with the spheres supported by acrylic stems. Each of the spheres is threaded with fiber optic cables and are lit by a color projector.

Of his work, Munro says, “I think it is a piece with universal appeal and I’ll be happy if it makes people smile at Christmas time.”

I definitely think there will be a lot who will be smiling because of the Field of Lights this Christmas. I know I would, if I had a chance to visit the museum.

[via Daily Mail and Flickr]

I wish these Bright Blinds were available for sale then, because I would’ve gotten one in the blink of an eye. My old room at my parents’ house was fitted with blinds, you see, so I was already sort of having another source of light other than the light on the ceiling.

First spotted back in 2007, and finally available for purchase, these blinds were designed by Makoto Hirahara. To give the illusion that the blinds are blocking light off from the outside, electroluminescent (EL) sheets have been fitted under each of the slats that light up with a twist of the plastic stick (that supposedly controls the angles on real blinds.)

The price is available upon request, if you’re interested.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

A quick, albeit disposable solution? The LighTissue. It’s basically a tissue that’s a light, and while it’s a pretty fun idea if you think about it, designer Oh-Se Won didn’t provide enough details or come with a feasible way to actually make this concept a probable one.

As one Yanko commenter noted (or rather, questioned): “how can the tissue light up? Is it by electrical means, or via a chemical reagent, or is it coated in some sort of photoluminescent chemical?”

Nuh-uh, I still don’t see the practicality (or possibility of this thing being made) even with this image of the many different ways you can use the Light Tissue. But it would be pretty cool if they can ever figure out a way to make these.

[via Yanko Design]