German designer Florian Kallus plays mind games with Tina L. (This is not a Lamp), a furniture object whose design and function are intentionally conflicting. Despite its lamp-like form, Kallus’ design won’t provide lighting and doesn’t contain a switch. The visual is misleading but the name is clear: This is not a Lamp is instead an ash wood stool (and side table). A bit cheeky and somewhat ironic, it questions initial assumptions and standard notions of form.  Everything is not what it seems.

This is not a Lamp. Designed by Florian Kallus.

Kallus’ post-education carpenter’s apprentice evoked his passion for form, function, technique, material and design. His Karton Chair: Aesthetics in a cardboard box also conveys his insolently bold aesthetic. The unconventional leather armchair seems contained within corrugated cardboard panels (abstractly at least); the design inspired by the simplicity of a cardboard box. His Xbein table (or desk) also received significant attention. With a distinctly geometric shape, it appears to be a single plank of wood folded into a modern desk.

Kallus lives, studies and works in Münster, Germany where he creates various pieces of furniture and objects. He’s obviously partial to working with wood – as his background in carpentry would suggest. Tina L., with its aesthetic befitting a function other than its own, serves more as a stand-alone object than a simple stool. It’s impossible to glance at without taking a second look. So even if you don’t plan to decorate your home with such a quirky piece, take a lesson from the designer and his object: as the saying goes, everything is not what it seems.