FINALISTS

The Bright Ideas Lighting design competition to showcase LED technology took place in Spring of 2011. Finalists were selected and judged by an esteemed jury panel of design publication editors and industry professionals. Below are the 40 finalists of the Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition. The grand prize winner for $1000 (selected by editors' votes) was Edward Chew's stunning handcrafted Tetrapak Lamp, made from hundreds of intricately folded Tetrapak juice containers. Carolyn Joan Lau took the 'Readers Choice award' for $500 for her beautiful 'Nourishment Lamp' crafted from recycled Yakult yogurt containers. Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer’s customizable cork Pinha Lamp was the third place winner (according to Editors' votes). The three runners up were Andrea Carvajal’s Blowfish Lamp made from refurbished test tubes, Gilles Eichenbaum’s Coffee Pot Lamp, and Pierre Ospina’s Blossom Bulbs: branch-like fixtures made from recycled rubber tire linings and LED bulbs. .

Congratulations to all the winners and short-listed finalists on your beautiful and inspiring designs!

Glowing Nourishment Lamp Made From Plastic Bottles
designer:
design: Glowing Nourishment Lamp Made From Plastic Bottles
description: Designed by Carolyn Joan Lau, the Nourishment Floor Lamps are made of yakult bottles and plastic ties.
Edward Chew’s Tetra Pak Origami Lamps
designer:
design: Edward Chew’s Tetra Pak Origami Lamps
description: Edward Chew's lamps are made from recycled Tetra Pak cartons which were cut into strips, folded into pieces, and then assembled without any adhesives.
Glowing Schilthorn Transforms an Old Coffee Pot Into a Lamp
designer:
design: Glowing Schilthorn Transforms an Old Coffee Pot Into a Lamp
description: Gilles Eichenbaum transforms discarded kitchenware into beautiful lights.
Fugu-Inspired Blowfish Lamp Creates Hypnotic Circles of Light
designer:
design: Fugu-Inspired Blowfish Lamp Creates Hypnotic Circles of Light
description: Andrea Carvajal's lamp was inspired by the image of a puffer fish and created a spiky, translucent lighting fixture that creates a series of hypnotic circles when illuminated.
Egg Cartons Recycled into Clever ‘Trash Me’ Desk Lamps
designer:
design: Egg Cartons Recycled into Clever ‘Trash Me’ Desk Lamps
description: The intent of the Trash Me lamp, created by Victor Vetterlein, is to create a product that is born from the trash and returned to the trash after a useful life cycle.
Rhapsody Lamp Recycles Hundreds of Plastic Bottles Into a Spectacular Display of Light
designer:
design: Rhapsody Lamp Recycles Hundreds of Plastic Bottles Into a Spectacular Display of Light
description: To create their spectacular Rhapsody Lamp, sibling team Reta and Vana Howell rescued a bounty of plastic materials from local businesses, friends and neighbors as the basis for their design.
Slender Blossom Bulbs Playfully Showcase LED Lighting
designer:
design: Slender Blossom Bulbs Playfully Showcase LED Lighting
description: Pierre Ospina's Blossom Bulbs are a mirror image of through growth. Rubber shoots distribute LED light in diverse, playful and flexible displays.
“Ella” Plastic Bottle Chandelier
designer:
design: “Ella” Plastic Bottle Chandelier
description: Designed by Sarah Turner, "Ella" is made from 310 plastic drinks bottles and has quite the presence at a size of over one meter wide.
Scribble Pendant Lamp Created from Twisted Ticonderoga Pencils
designer:
design: Scribble Pendant Lamp Created from Twisted Ticonderoga Pencils
description: The Scribble Pendant Lamp, created by Jennifer Huang, is designed to provide a decorative feature to the ambient lighting system of a space.
Booklight Lampshade Features Hundreds of Pages of Literature
designer:
design: Booklight Lampshade Features Hundreds of Pages of Literature
description: The booklight, designed by architect Anja Verdonk of Dutch Ginkgo Studio is a paper low-energy LED bulb lampshade made from upcycled books.
The Forkalier is Created from Salvaged or Damaged Forks
designer:
design: The Forkalier is Created from Salvaged or Damaged Forks
description: Produced through the intention of utilizing “objects of everyday life”, the Forkalier lamp is meant for functional yet playful articulation.
Khrysalis and Kortex Lamp Beautifully Upcycles Wine Bottles
designer:
design: Khrysalis and Kortex Lamp Beautifully Upcycles Wine Bottles
description: The Khrysalis and Kortex by Jerry Kott implement the Philips LED bulb line in an innovative new lamp design that upcycles wine bottles into beautiful lamps.
Versatile Pillbug Light Is a Wall Sconce, Table Lamp or Chandelier
designer:
design: Versatile Pillbug Light Is a Wall Sconce, Table Lamp or Chandelier
description: The Pillbug Lamp by Kristof Kovacs is a design that can be used in a variety of applications depending on how wide its shade is opened or closed.
Sprout Living Lamp is a Luminous Growing Terrarium
designer:
design: Sprout Living Lamp is a Luminous Growing Terrarium
description: The Sprout Living Lamp utilizes found objects and real plants to encourage users to think outside the box about where one can incorporate greenery into their lives.
Six Pack Rings Upcycled Into 165 Helianthus Pendant Light
designer:
design: Six Pack Rings Upcycled Into 165 Helianthus Pendant Light
description: The shape of Bao-Khang Luu's "165 Helianthus Pendant Light" draws inspiration from the plant world.
Retro Lights Knitted into Colorful “Uplifted” Lampshades
designer:
design: Retro Lights Knitted into Colorful “Uplifted” Lampshades
description: Deryn Relph's 'Uplifted' design makes use of knitted textiles to 'upcycle' old retro-style lamp frames.
Maglight Transforms Magazines into a Colorful Table Lamp
designer:
design: Maglight Transforms Magazines into a Colorful Table Lamp
description: Created from an old magazine, the Maglight glows like stained glass thanks to the glossy's colorful pages.
Sea Urchin-Inspired Uni Light Constructed from Tyvek
designer:
design: Sea Urchin-Inspired Uni Light Constructed from Tyvek
description: Modern Maine's Uni Collection is a set of customizable Tyvek pendant and floor lights that take name after the Japanese word for sea urchin.
Glowing Beehive-Shaped Nectar Hanging Light
designer:
design: Glowing Beehive-Shaped Nectar Hanging Light
description: Designed by Rebecca Asquith, the Nectar Lamp Shade draws upon the hexagonal shapes that are prolific throughout nature, with a focus on the shape of the hive of the honey bee.
Hangelier 2.1 Recycles Unwanted Hangers and Bike Parts
designer:
design: Hangelier 2.1 Recycles Unwanted Hangers and Bike Parts
description: The Hangelier series by Alex Witko are lampshades crafted from salvaged bike parts and off-the-shelf wooden hangers.
Flock Floor Lamp Hand Bent from FSC Certified Sycamore
designer:
design: Flock Floor Lamp Hand Bent from FSC Certified Sycamore
description: Tom Raffield's "Flock Floor Lamp" is a beauty of a construction, delicately hand-crafted out of steam bent Forest Stewardship Certified Sycamore wood.
Solar Powered Garden Candles Can’t Be Blown Out
designer:
design: Solar Powered Garden Candles Can’t Be Blown Out
description: John Housmand's Garden Candles are a set of enchanting solar garden lights that resemble illuminated candles.
Bubble Chandelier Made With Sixty Plastic Bottles Shines Bright
designer:
design: Bubble Chandelier Made With Sixty Plastic Bottles Shines Bright
description: Shaun Kasperbauer's "Bubble Chandelier" is constructed of 2 liter soda bottles, and the shadows it casts mimic the cell-like shape of soap bubbles.
“Abstraction” Pendant Lamps Make a Bold Modular Statement
designer:
design: “Abstraction” Pendant Lamps Make a Bold Modular Statement
description: Designed by Brandon Perhacs, the "Abstraction" modular pendant lamp series consists of 8 laser cut leaves made from high quality sustainable and recycled/recyclable materials.
Conical Task Lamp Made From Recycled Paper Pulp
designer:
design: Conical Task Lamp Made From Recycled Paper Pulp
description: Lightweight, cost effective and sourced primarily of post consumer materials, the “Pulp” Task Lamp by Tom Mollnow is designed for a minimal carbon footprint.
A Bit of Light Reading
designer:
design: A Bit of Light Reading
description: Lucy Norman's "Light Reading" design addresses the issue that books are printed every year, read and discarded.
Lamp Packaging Doubles as Protection and Fixture
designer:
design: Lamp Packaging Doubles as Protection and Fixture
description: The Packaging Lamp, designed by David Gardener, achieves zero waste - the the packaging becomes the actual fixture.
Cascading Soda Bottle Lancashire Chandeliers
designer:
design: Cascading Soda Bottle Lancashire Chandeliers
description: Michelle Brand's "Cacasde and Cascade Lancashire Ceiling Lights" are elegant, flowy designs that upcycle plastic bottles to create stunning chandeliers.
Pinha Lamp Introduces Personalized Approach to Lighting
designer:
design: Pinha Lamp Introduces Personalized Approach to Lighting
description: Pinha proposes a playful approach to lighting through personalization. The hanging lamp consists of a cork outer fixture to which a printed-paper shade is fastened.
Poetic Odyssey Suspension Light Made from Recycled Glass Bottles
designer:
design: Poetic Odyssey Suspension Light Made from Recycled Glass Bottles
description: The Odyssey Suspension Light by Ismael Quintero is fashioned from the recycled green glass of beer bottles.
Turbine Pendant Lamp Made With 100% Recyclable Materials
designer:
design: Turbine Pendant Lamp Made With 100% Recyclable Materials
description: The Turbine Pendant Lamp - designed by Eric Chow - is a versatile, sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing solution to decorating and diffusing the light from a low-energy LED bulb.
Vintage Broken Blenders Turned into Lamps
designer:
design: Vintage Broken Blenders Turned into Lamps
description: This lamp, designed by Minda Merinsky, is made out of a recycled blender.
Scrap Aluminum Twists into the Curly Sworth Light
designer:
design: Scrap Aluminum Twists into the Curly Sworth Light
description: Designed by Ilsa Parry and manufactured in collaboration with Tom Sutton, the Sworth lamp is constructed mostly from worthless by products of the shipping industry.
Metallic Cloud Chandelier Manifests Itself With Steel Scrubbing Sponges
designer:
design: Metallic Cloud Chandelier Manifests Itself With Steel Scrubbing Sponges
description: Designed by Daisuke Hiraiwa, "A Cloudy Day" is a shining cloud lighting, floating in space. Composed of metal scrubbers, Hiraiwa expresses how we can be bathed in the light through wisps of clouds.
Leaf Lamp Takes Inspiration from Patterns in Nature
designer:
design: Leaf Lamp Takes Inspiration from Patterns in Nature
description: Peter Schumacher drew inspiration for the Leaf Lamp from the geometric patterns found in plants.
Kalamata Spotlight Exhibits Materials With an Intriguing Industrial Aura
designer:
design: Kalamata Spotlight Exhibits Materials With an Intriguing Industrial Aura
description: Designed by Ori ben-zvi, the Kalamata Spotlight is a directional floor based spotlight the exhibits a stellar industrial aura.
Illuminated Psychopomp Turns a Rocking Horse Into a Rocking Lamp
designer:
design: Illuminated Psychopomp Turns a Rocking Horse Into a Rocking Lamp
description: Upcycled from post-consumer waste, Ghetto Picasso's white horse is gambiarra comes reborn in the form of an illuminated Psychopomp lamp.
Shiny Chandelier Made From Hundreds of Upcycled Coffee Spoons
designer:
design: Shiny Chandelier Made From Hundreds of Upcycled Coffee Spoons
description: Studio Verissimo has transformed hundreds of single use coffee stirrers into a gorgeous hanging chandelier.
Hangelier 1.2 Upcycles Shiny Plastic Hangers
designer:
design: Hangelier 1.2 Upcycles Shiny Plastic Hangers
description: Organelle Designs upcycles plastic hangers into the shiny Hangelier 1.2.
Vintage Lights Remade as Beryl and Friends
designer:
design: Vintage Lights Remade as Beryl and Friends
description: WEmake rescue lamps that have fallen out of favour, rewire and refit them with low energy LED bulbs before lovingly preserving them in a heat shrink jacket.