12 Unusual Light Bulb Designs

When you hear “light bulb”, what do you see? I bet you see the same iconic light bulb shape, which is probably better known than the famous Coca-Cola bottle silhouette. It’s a nice shape, but it’s always interesting to shake things up a bit, and redesign things that may seem unchangeable.

1. Insight Lamp

Energy efficient lamp that looks like brains. (Designer: Solovyovdesign)

2. Melting LED Light Bulbs

Every bulb looks like it’s melting. (Designer: Keita Ogawa)

3. You Only Live Once

Tighten the noose to turn it off and loosen it to brighten the lights. (Designer: mintpass)

4. Pear-Shaped Lights

Unfortunately, it’s non-edible pears. (Designer: Nick Foley)

5. Rise And Shine

Rise and Shine is a tribute to the Edison lightbulb which helped accelerate us into industrial era but after 130 years, it seems the light is finally dimming. The lightbulb will soon be banned from the EU and similar measures are taking place all over the world. In honor, this cheeky presentation shows the powerful rise of the lightbulb in a symbolic way – the brevity of existence. (Designer: Joost Wever)

6. Light In A Pinch

Hang up lights to suit your mood simply by clipping on electro-luminescent sheets of paper to a hard-wire clip called the Pinch. (Designer: Shinyoung Ma)

7. Light Blubs

This series of light bulbs take on forms which have gone way out of line, appearing as bulbous forms  extending from industrial lamp shades. they take on various sizes and shapes, large masses taking over  and in some cases, appearing as if they are almost starting to consume the pieces of furniture in which  they are placed. (Designer: Pieke Bergmans)

8. Pocket Light

It’s about the size of a credit card and powered by a small cell. You can carry this light in your pocket or wallet. (Designers: Hyun Jin Yoon & Eun Hak Lee)

9. Lamp/Lamp

It’s hard to think of a light source as mundane as the naked bulb. In a surprising twist, the Lamp/Lamp gives the lowly light bulb a new and delightfully absurd personality by simply adding an extra socket. (Designer: Hironao Tsuboi) (buy)

10. Liquid Lights

Ever tried taking a high speed photo of a water drop falling from a tap? This design is very similar to it.  (Designer: Tanya Clarke)

11. XX Light Bulbs

Limited edition of 1,000 sets that contain 3 bulbs each, of one bulb in each color: red, purple and green. (Designer: KAWS)

12. Tribulb

Similar to #9, this bulb can be screwed thrice. (Designer: Shinya Yoshida)