Every so often here at 3rings we encounter a product that has less than mass appeal, that may, in fact, be a downright turn-off for the more squeamish among us. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not worthy of our attention. Such pieces can be something of an acquired taste. Perhaps the aesthetic is centered around a certain shock value.

Ant LED Table Light LIT 2008. Designed by Carl Pickard.

Take for example, David Pompa’s Surreal Minimalism; our appetite for the lurid or libidinous (Fabio Novembre’s Him/Her Chair); or merely how we revel in the grotesque (Hadid’s Orchis). Perhaps said design partakes of a hefty helping of kitschy schlock—that, and an uncanny resemblance to insectivorous or alien shapes. UK Designer Carl Pickard‘s diminutive yet determined Ant Light belongs with the luminaries of this last category, snug among unlikely bedfellows like Guillermo Sureda Burgos’ HGW, Karim Rashid’s Blobulous, and Daniel Becker’s Melting Light. In fact, I like to picture all four of these B-movie pieces: deep in the bowels of the New Mexico desert and silently consigned to some army clinician’s shelf—arcane evidence of recurrent extraterrestrial manifestations.

In fact, the Ant Lamp is a bit subdued in such company. At a mere 15 cm high, this unusual desk lamp can easily disappear into its surroundings, yet a pair of low voltage/high output LEDs (doubling as the creature’s “faux eyes”) packs quite a punch (never forget that, pound for pound, the Ant is among the earth’s most powerful creatures). And owing to a network of nifty articulations among its five appendages–that’s two proboscises and three legs–both height and light angle are adjustable to user’s preference. So if you can stomach a bit of high camp among your array of pristine contemporaneity, go for the Ant Lamp. It’s a functional accessory that adds a splash of vintage comic relief, and sometimes that’s just the ticket.