From a London-based designer who repurposes eyewear lenses to reduce waste to clever cloud-shaped lights that add soft touches to living spaces, these are our favorite sustainable light designs this season.
1. RAY Sconce
Stickbulb makes beautiful lighting out of wood from locally demolished buildings, dismantled water towers, fallen trees, and sustainably managed forests. Photo by Joseph De Leo
“RAY is simple, clean, and quiet,” says Russell Greenberg, cofounder of Stickbulb, a New York–based design brand that repurposes wood from demolished building sites.
“The design is so minimal it draws your attention closer to the subtle details of the wood grain and the machined precision of the sconce construction.”
RAY Sconce is a versatile new lighting collection that can be used in vertical and horizontal orientations. The light can face the wall, creating a halo effect around the sconce, or graze the wall, creating a gentle wash of light in an up, down, left, or right direction.
2. Lens Light Collection
The ‘Vase’ Lens Light by Yair Neuman. Photo by Jonathan Minster
After being disturbed by the abundance of eyewear lenses being thrown away, designer Yair Neuman collaborated with Cubitts to curb the waste, transforming what might normally end up in the landfill into fashionable lamps.
Based in London, Neuman has meticulously repurposed the lenses into pendant lamps and lights shaped like flowers, fans, and vases as part of the Lens Light series.
3. Tense Pendant Lamp
The Tense pendant lamp. Courtesy of New Works
The lightweight Tense pendant lamp hangs like a floating feather from the ceiling.
Delicate but durable, this new collection takes on a minimalist aesthetic while its cloud-like lightness and color make a statement in any setting.
Design duo Panter and Tourron created this lovely piece in collaboration with New Works, a Danish design company. The Copenhagen-based designer used 100% recycled Tyvek membrane sustained by carbon rods, plus an LED light source.
4. Spun Collection
Courtesy of Bicycle Glass Co.
The Twin Cities–based recycled glass company Bicycle Glass Co. is taking old glass and making beautiful lamps for homes.
The Spun Lamps collection includes pendant lights, sconces, semi flush mount, and chandeliers.
Bicycle Glass Co.’s small team of people are skilled in glass-making and dedicated to making each lamp its own—no two pieces look alike. But they aren’t just using recycled glass. The packaging is also nearly all recyclable, and the company is working to become a carbon-neutral business.
5. Cloud Bamboo Pendant
Designer David Trubridge re-launched the Cloud Bamboo Pendant to be made from 95% natural materials. Photo courtesy of Lightology
The Cloud Pendant is inspired by the clouds over the Pacific Ocean.
Designer David Trubridge’s new Cloud Bamboo Pendant lamp is made from 95% natural materials—an upgrade from its past iteration, made from plastic. Now it’s undergoing a sustainable makeover and is made from thinly cut bamboo.
“For a product conceived from the ocean, the idea of using plastics in products was in direct violation of my ethical standards and focus on sustainable materials and design practices,” Trubridge says. Despite a much needed makeover, the lamp maintains its character––influenced by Scandinavian minimalism and Danish design.
