Everyone needs light, especially when the day gets dark. Lighting, however, doesn’t need to be plain or boring, serving a functional need and nothing else. Lamps offer the opportunity to make a visual statement in a room, to give more than just light but also life. They can be as elaborate as an elegant chandelier or as simple as a minimalist desk lamp. Some can even be both, switching between simple and complex in just a few seconds. This concept design for a modular set of three lamps try to offer that kind of flexibility, delivering a simple yet beautiful desk lamp when needed and a piece of sculptural art when wanted, all without dealing with messy wires, screws, or adhesives.

Designer: Ping-Lun Chung

The Light-7 concept takes its from the basic frame of the three lamps. A wooden board is bent at an angle to form a shape like the number seven. The two ends of the frame are connected by a glossy plastic material that softly curves to the edges, inspired by how white fabric can be stretched over that same frame to create an elegant shape. The material also serves to diffuse the light from within, giving the lamps a soft glow that sets a calm mood in the area.

On its own, the lamp already stands as an attractive light piece, acting as a soft night lamp on top of a bedside table. When magnetically connected to one or two other pieces, however, it shines a brighter light on the room, effectively serving as the main light source. Going beyond intensity, the Light-7’s wireless connectivity gives you the freedom to arrange the parts in ways that delight your eyes or fit the rest of your room’s decor, bringing light and art together in a more personal way.

You can, for example, simply attach one module to form a lamp that faces opposite directions. Simply rotating one piece, however, can make that light shine up or down, depending on what you need. You don’t even need to stick to what you’ve chosen because you can easily change the configuration at a moment’s notice.

Things get brighter when the main lamp, the only one that was a power cable, is flanked by both modules. The arrangement becomes more limited, however, because of how the pieces need to interact with each other. In this form, the best setup is a pendant lamp that uses a soft, omnidirectional glow to set the mood in a dark room.

Current wireless technologies might not yet be completely there as far as providing sufficient power for lighting, but the simple idea that it’s close at hand definitely sparks the imagination. Magnets are already opening the doors to many modular products, from desk accessories to shelves, so magnetic consumer electronics won’t be that far behind. The Light-7 concept explores the possibilities of what can be accomplished when all these pieces fall into place, allowing people to create their own sculptural light art in a snap.