Designers, like artists, love to take on social commentary in their designs. A lamp is not just a lamp when it speaks about natural resource consumption and the downfalls of our consumer driven society. Lighting seems to attract designers with a knack for social commentary, perhaps because of the underlying meaning that goes along with creating a light source that taps into a designers God complex. Being an architect I know a thing or two about the God complex designer who can manipulate life at a grand scale and view the world from an impossible perspective. Lighting draws a different type of commentary, as seen in examples like the Wat lamp by Manon LeBlanc and the Trash Me lamp by Victor Vetterlein. Whereas Trash Me lamp uses a temporal recycled material to express the impermanence of products in our culture, the Wat actually uses water to power itself while speaking about resource consumption.

Light Drop. Designed by Rafael Morgan.

The Light Drop by Rafael Morgan plays to a similar tune as the above references, taking its shape from the faucet that is dripping water. The fixture is a series of wall-mounted pieces which uses custom-molded polycarbonate bulbs with an embedded, dimmable LED. In an almost too obvious way (I mean too obvious because I would be looking for the wall switch), the quantity of light is controlled by the tap, allowing you to twist and get more light. In the words of the designer, this tactic is “also is a good way to contextualize energy use (though at a greatly reduced rate, compared to an incandescent version of the same design.” The Light Drop is intended to make the user think about how our society deals with water, which is a critical source of life on our planet. Raphael Morgan won the Third Prize in the Bright LED international design competition for this design.