Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Green Lights: 2 Highly Unusual Nature-Embracing Lamps

Posted: 18 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST

You might not think that plants and electricity are very closely related, but these two lamps use the power of nature to provide illumination. One uses soil to light a lamp and the other uses a plant to control the amount of light that is sent out into the room – but both meld the natural and the man-made in an elegant manner.

The Soil Lamp from designer Mareike Staps uses the natural conductive capacity of soil to light up an LED bulb. The lamp is quite simple, having a transparent body that lets you see all of its inner workings. Conductive plates buried in the soil react with water (which you have to add every now and then) to create enough clean, free energy to keep the light burning virtually forever.

The Plamp from Dutch designer Twan Verdonck is half plant, half lamp. A small container of soil is suspended within a wire frame, while a light bulb pokes through the top of the frame. A plant grows from the soil and wraps itself around the wire frame. As it grows, it begins to obscure the light. The plant can be trimmed to allow more light through. No matter how much light shines from this lamp, the elegant shapes of the plant leaves provide a lovely natural lamp shade.

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Lovely Tiles Blend Durability of Ceramic and Beauty of Wood

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST

Modern manufacturing methods have made it possible for us to have all kinds of fascinating materials in our homes. Italian company Tagina makes a line of ceramic tiles that look just like natural and metallic woods.

The ceramic tiles, known collectively as Lignite, are imprinted with realistic wood grain. Each tile looks like a unique piece of natural material.

The coloring of the tiles ranges from natural, variegated wood hues to striking, shiny grey that looks like a metal/wood hybrid.

While it may seem a little strange to disguise ceramic tiles as wood ones, there is a simple and intelligent reason behind these tiles. Ceramic is very tough and can stand up to high traffic in a way that real wood can’t.

This durability means that Lignite tiles are perfect for businesses and other high-traffic areas where the look of wood will add so much but real wood flooring just isn’t practical.