Scrap aluminum slivers were worked into the Sworth Lamp, an exploding cloud of gleaming metal by designer Ilsa Parry and collaborator Tom Sutton. The curly slivers that the lamp is constructed from are ordinarily worthless by-products of the shipping industry, known as swarf. However, in Ilsa and Tom’s hands, they take on a valuable and visually softer form. If you’re struck by this LED lamp’s dynamic look and creative reuse of materials, give it your vote in the Bright Ideas Lighting Competition.

VOTE FOR THE SWORTH LAMP >


Read the rest of Sworth Lamp by Parry and Sutton Twists Scrap Metal into Art

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Sometimes we want to shake things up around our apartments, but aren’t ready to buy any new decor. The Pillbug Lamp solves this problem by functioning as a wall sconce, table lamp, or even a chandelier depending on how wide its shade is opened or closed. Inspired by the natural forms of armadillos and pillbugs, Kristof Kovacs created this versatile lamp to fit any flat or angled surface. Although fabricated from high-impact polystyrene, the designer is currently searching for a recycled plastic alternative. If you dig the versatility of this Bright Ideas finalist then give the Pillbug your vote!

VOTE FOR THE PILLBUG LAMP >

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Post tags: biomimicry, bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, Competition, contest, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, high-impact polystyrene, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, kristof kovacs, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, Light, lighting design competition, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, pillbug lamp, versatility

Organelle Design’s series of Hangelier 1.2 lampshades is thoughtfully crafted from off-the-shelf plastic hangers and salvaged bike components. The surprisingly intricate hangers are arranged in a manner that references classic chandeliers from afar, while revealing the designer’s unique material choice up close. The repeated use of the mundane hangers brings the issue of landfill waste to light. A finalist in the Bright Ideas Lighting Competition, we think it also exemplifies how LED lighting can both be innovative and elegant.

VOTE FOR THE HANGELIER 1.2 >

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Post tags: Alex Witko, bike rim, bright ideas lighting competition, bright ideas lighting contest, bright ideas lighting design competition, clothing hangers, Competition, contest, Courtney Hunt, eco friendly lamps, eco lamps, eco lighting designs, energy efficient lamps, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient lighting designs, green lamps, green lighting, green lighting competition, green lighting designs, hangelier, inhabitat and philips bright ideas lighting competition, inhabitat and philips lighting contest, inhabitat bright ideas, inhabitat lighting competition, lampshade, LED, led lamp, LED lamps, led lighting contest, led lighting design competition, led lighting design contest, led lighting fi, Light, lighting design competition, organelle design, Philips, philips bright ideas, Philips led bulbs, philips lighting, repurposed hangers

“Abstraction” is a series of modular pendant lamps laser cut from recycled and recyclable materials and designed by Brandon Perhacs of Lichen and Perhacs Studio. In a clever and playful move, the designer made the leaves of the lamps interchangeable with one another. This allows for a wide variety of design possibilities as the different patterns, colors and materials within the series are mixed and matched. One of the finalists in our Bright Ideas Lighting Competition, the shades will be available by the end of the summer to be creatively separated and recombined.

VOTE FOR THE ABSTRACTION LAMP SERIES >

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The Flock Floor Lamp is a coiled beauty set in bloom by the hands of dedicated and talented craftsman Tom Raffield. Delicately handcrafted out of steam bent FSC-Certified Sycamore wood, the shade is suspended atop a minimal, solid steel tripod base to create a dramatic and unique floor lamp. If you’re a fan of this innovative design then vote for it in our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition!

VOTE FOR THE FLOCK FLOOR LAMP

Read the rest of Whirling Flock Floor Lamp Crafted from FSC-Certified Wood by Tom Raffield

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Utilizing neglected forks, Wendy W. Fok of We-Designs has produced the Forkalier lamp. Using everyday objects that are often overlooked or quickly discarded, the Forkalier takes a stab at reclaiming them from dusty drawers and scrap piles for daily use once again. A finalist in our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition, we love its playful, yet functional tone. Show your support for the eye-catching design by voting for it here.

VOTE FOR THE FORKALIER>

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Inspired by the Brazilian idea of “Gambiarra” – reviving unwanted junk – Ghetto Picasso’s imaginative lamp design gives a forgotten, white rocking horse a luminous new life. The illuminated horse is a ‘psychopomp’; or a creature or spirit that is responsible for escorting deceased souls to the afterlife in many religions. In addition to being a theological reference, the lamp is an adaptation of Henry Fuseli’s painting “The Nightmare”. A finalist in our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition, we were taken by its quirky look and fascinating story.

VOTE FOR THE PSYCHOPOMP LAMP>

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Dutch architect Anja Verdonk juxtaposes the oldest forms of printed text with high-tech lighting technology in her LED ‘Booklight” hanging lamps. Ranging from classic novels, to comic books and sheet music, Verdonk gives the flat paper new life in twirling and winding forms. A finalist in our Bright Ideas Design Competition, we love that the lamp inspires material reuse in addition to allowing viewers delight in trying to decipher the origin of the delicate shades.

VOTE FOR THE BOOKLIGHT>

Read the rest of Upcycled Booklight Gives New Life to Discarded Literature

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It’s a well-known fact that the rapid pace of technological progress results in a tremendous amount of outdated computers, TV’s and other electronics, so we love to see creative solutions for repurposing e-waste. Answering a challenge from ReadyMade magazine, Julie Brzezinski created these clever DIY storage units from old boob tubes. Her stack of TV shelves makes a great showcase for displaying shoes, books, and other decorative items.

Read the rest of DIY TV Shelves: Transform Your Television Into Something Useful

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If your kids love hosting get-togethers of their very own, then this colorful Charlotte Table Set is the perfect spot for them to serve up air tea and cookies for their best friends and Teddy. This week we’ve teamed up with Way Basics to give away one of these adorable table sets (worth $140), which includes one tyke-sized table and four vibrant stools. Crafted from eco-friendly zBoard made from 99% post-consumer recycled paper, this set is free of formaldehyde, VOCs and other toxins and it’s recyclable to boot! Enter to win after the jump!

ENTER TO WIN HERE>

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GET YOUR HANDS ON A BRAND NEW WINDOWS 7 PHONE!

If you’ve been meaning to try out the sleek new Windows 7 smartphones that just came out this week with a completely revamped and super user-friendly mobile operating system, today’s your lucky day. We’re giving away not one, but TWO brand-spanking-new HTC HD7 Windows 7 smartphones (worth $500). This innovative new gadget was designed with a super-crisp large display and allows you to access all of the best entertainment programs like Netflix, T-Mobile TV, and Slacker Radio right at the tip of your fingers. The winners will also receive a one year Xbox Live Gold membership, a three-month, unlimited Zune Pass that will allow them to download and stream unlimited music and keep 30 songs of their choice forever, as well as a T-Mobile SIM that will be active until Nov. 30, 2010 – so enter to win today!!!

ENTER TO WIN HERE >

or HERE >

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We here at Inhabitat love all things solar power, and one of our favorite sun-soaking objects has always been the solar power backpack for its amazing ability to charge our gadgets on the go! Apart from the obvious benefits of keeping your mobile phone charged up, our own Editor-in-Chief Jill Fehrenbacher quickly found that the nerdy solar backpack came with a surprising set of added benefits when she started using it – it was the perfect conversation starter to spark up a connection with anyone, anywhere. Read ahead to find out how Jill turned her geeky solar backpack into a great attention-getting and friend-making object. And if you have a story of finding a surprising new use in an unlikely item, share it with us here, for a chance to win a bunch of cool prizes, including an all-expenses-paid vacation for six to California’s Napa Valley!

READ MORE>

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How much space do we really need? In an era of ballooning house sizes and constricting rental markets, it can sometimes be difficult to envision opportunities for change or innovation. Enter 10 square – a micro building design competition that seeks to broaden awareness and generate examples of building and design strategies that are small, green and affordable. So challenge preconceived notions and enter your ideas about getting more out of living with less!

READ MORE >

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Post tags: 10 2 Micro Building Design Competition, Competition, contest, Green Building, micro building, small space living

Last chance to win an awesome solar back-to-school bundle!

Heads up students – school starts this month, and we’ve got just the thing to brighten up those dreary fall days – a stunning solar-powered Sakku bag stuffed full of school supplies. But you’ll have to act fast – today is the last day to enter our Back to School Prize Package Giveaway (worth over $500)! This amazing bundle includes 7 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem, a 100% recycled binder, tabs and binder pouch from Naked Binder, and to top it all off, an amazing solar-powered bag by Sakku (worth $450) that will make you the most popular kid in class.

ENTER HERE >

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Last chance to win a solar back-to-school bundle worth $500!

Heading back to school can be a total drag — so to help you get geared up for your scholarly pursuits, we’re giving away an awesome back-to-school bundle this week to one lucky reader! Our grand prize is an awesome Sakuu solar-powered bag (worth $450) made from recycled sails stocked full of 7 stylish 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem and a 100% recycled binder and binder pouch from Naked Binder! So if you haven’t already entered our latest back to school giveaway, the time to act is now — this contest closes on Wednesday!

ENTER HERE >

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Win an awesome solar back-to-school bundle worth over $500!

If you spend hours in class, chances are your gadgets are running low on battery power by the end of the day. Well, if you want to keep your iPod, phone, camera or pretty much any small electronic charged and ready to go – so you can use it after school too – enter to win our fabulous Back-to-School Prize Package featuring this amazingly handy solar-powered bag by Sakku (worth $450) that can juice up your electronics with solar power on the go. And there’s more – the winner of this prize will also receive 7 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem and a 100% recycled binder, tabs and binder pouch from Naked Binder, so what are you waiting for? Enter today!

ENTER HERE >

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GO BACK TO SCHOOL WITH AN AMAZING NEW SOLAR BAG!

If you just started school this past week, but found yourself utterly unprepared, don’t fret over that old, empty frayed backpack because we’ve got a giveaway going on that’s sure to  put a smile on your face! In celebration of education, this week we’re giving away a grand green back-to-school bundle to one lucky reader! Featuring a sweet new Sakku solar powered bag made from recycled sails (worth $450), we’ve packed this baby full of eco-friendly school supplies, including 7 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem, a 100% recycled binder, tabs and binder pouch from Naked Binder! And this prize package isn’t the only thing we’ve got in the works, 5 other lucky winners will also have the chance to win some sweet Inhabischwag! Enter to win today!

ENTER TO WIN HERE>

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Post tags: back to school, contest, eco bag, eco binder, eco notebook, eco school supplies, ecosystem, giveaway, green back to school, green bag, green binder, green notebook, green school supplies, naked binder, photovoltaic bag, sakku, sakku solar bag, sakky, solar bag, solar powered bag

GO BACK TO SCHOOL WITH AN AMAZING NEW SOLAR BAG!

If you want to put your best (and greenest) foot forward as you start the new school year, we’ve got something that will help – a lot. We’re giving away a fantastic Back to School Prize Package (worth over $500) packed with green school supplies to one lucky winner – and it could be you! This amazing bundle includes 7 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem, a 100% recycled binder, tabs and binder pouch from Naked Binder, and to top it all off, an amazing solar-powered bag by Sakku (worth $450) that keeps all your gadgets charged up using power from the sun!

ENTER HERE >

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WIN A BACK TO SCHOOL SOLAR BAG BUNDLE WORTH OVER $500!

Headed back to school and need some help getting inspired? Inhabitat is here to help! We’ve got an awesome eco back-to-school package that we’ll be giving away to one lucky winner in our Green Back-to-School contest. You may have noticed we ran a contest like this last week on Inhabitat… Well it was so popular that we decided to do another one and really up the ante this time. So if you didn’t win in the last contest, now you have another chance! We’ll be giving away an amazing bundle that includes 7 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks in assorted colors and styles by ecosystem, a 100% recycled binder, tabs and binder pouch from Naked Binder, and to top it all off, an incredible solar-powered bag by Sakku (worth $450) that keeps all your gadgets charged up using power from the sun!

Read the rest of BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY: Win a Solar Powered Package (worth $500)!

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Last chance to win our $150 back-to-school giveaway!

If you’re a struggling student strapped for cash, going back to school after a relaxing summer is hardly something to look forward to. So to help you get into the spirit of hitting the books and hanging out in the cafeteria, we’re giving away a killer green back-to-school bundle (worth $150) chock full of eco goodies to one lucky reader! This sweet bag of goods includes 3 awesome 100% recycled hardcover notebooks by ecosystem, 2 100% recycled binders from Naked Binder, 2 Naked Binder tabs, 2 Naked Binder pouches and to keep it all from cluttering up, an eco-chic Instinctive Approaching Pack made from 100% recycled polyester! And just because we wish we were going back to school ourselves (blasted real world!) we’re also giving away another10 Moleskine-style ecosystem notebooks to 10 readers! Enter to win today!

ENTER TO WIN HERE>

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