Plant Growing Lamps Bring Nature Into Isolated Interiors

The ingenious design doesn’t come down to mere extravagant shapes, but stand out through the ability to take a step forward beyond the pre-established limits and bring a practical contribution as well. It is the case of an amazing invention bearing the signature of two German designers who wanted to blend aesthetics and functionality alike: a lamp that allows plants to grow inside it, but not under any circumstances. The invention started from the bold idea of illuminating the interior spaces where sunlight is totally absent while bringing a bit of nature into these inert corners. The plant growing lamps meet both ends in a truly unique manner.

The idea belongs to designers Emilia Lucht and Arne Sebrankte with the German design studio We Love Eames. They drew many different ideas, but settled on one they named the Mygdal Plantlamp, a lamp that would allow a plant to grow inside it, without the use of direct sunlight and water. Hard to imagine to many of us this might be possible, but they managed to break the patterns.

Not only did they come with the idea on paper, but they actually really worked on it literally. For instance, Arne then set out to create a template for the glass lamp to be shaped on. This involved creating a mold. The glass blowers then work the glass to create the shape needed for the lamp. The end result is two versions, a pendant lamp and a standing lamp, that both have small plants growing in them, with an LED light replicating the need for sunlight.

According to Contemporist.com, the standing lamp has a special feature. There’s an electrically conductive glass coating (patent pending), which is able to stream the electricity invisible along the surface, which means there is no cable connection between the power source and the LED light. As impressive as they may be, the lights are a completely self-sustaining ecosystem, where they claim the plants can grow undisturbed for years.