This is such a great pendant for this room that is at once warm and inviting as contemporary.

Low Budget Lighting

Yesterday I stumbled across these charming lights in the neat store Free People in Houston. The whole store had a wonderful feeling of spring with delicate colorful branches and petals hanging in the air.

Great low-budget lighting idea!

Ingo Maurer Zettel'z

Last week we visited the fabulous Ingo Maurer showroom in Munich. As always it was a treat!

The Zeppelin Chandelier, designed by Marcel Wanders for Italian lighting company FLOS is always stunning and fits so many different applications.
I saw it in a sophisticated department store in Munich last week and took this photo.
A fine web of resin wraps a large chandelier in its own cocoon and creates a unique effect.

Fontana Arte Tour Table in F + F Showroom

Got the Tour table by Fontana Arte in today. Such an inspiring, fun design! We immediately assembled it and it is now on display in our front window accompanied by an assortment of Tech Lighting pendants, an awesome cast glass sculpture by local artist Shel Neymark, the graceful Nobi floor lamp by Fontana Arte and the Poul Poul Table lamp by Ingo Maurer.

Collage pendant from Louis Poulsen

It is so much fun to choose all our favorite pieces for our new showroom. Here the Collage pendant from Louis Poulsen stands out . The Goggle wall lights from Luceplan are here purple, but they actually change color as you move around them.

Artemide-Pierce-Pendant

The Pirce pendant light from Artemide is a show-stopper. Created from a laser cut, irregular shaped aluminum disc it opens up into a gently cascading spiral, creating the light and airy look of an illuminated mobile floating in space.
A bulb in the lower dish of the light casts light upwards to give indirect illumination.

Plumen, the CFL with a difference

At the January Dallas Market this squiggly CFL was to be seem in several showrooms: Tech Lighting and LBL both embraced the Plumen.
Not only fun and different, the Plumen CFL produces the equivalent of 55-watt , and therefore reduces energy consumption by 80% while providing 8,000 hours of light.

At Form + Function we are adding them to our site within the next few days and we can’t wait to use them all over our showroom. We’ll definitely post pictures!

They will retail for $29.95 and will be included with some fixtures as an added bonus.

We are also adding the wonderful (and unfortunately energy-guzzling) vintage bulbs.

If you can’t wait to order either one of the two, please contact us and we’ll take care of you!

As a lot of you know, at Form + Function we specialize in odd and unusual – and common – bulbs of all shapes and sizes.

With the huge generation of baby boomers defining “growing old” in new ways, there is great motivation to find solutions to the pesky physical problems associated with aging.

One is the research being done on “Lighting for the Aging Eye”.
What it all boils down to is that we just don’t see so well at 60 as we did at 20.
But then again, this is no reason to limit our activities. We just need to know what to do about it and make some changes in our home, and off we go!

In our new showroom we have made a fun display using this iconic poster of the buff 70+ year old guy  with a few lighting facts about “Lighting for the aging eye.”

At 65 you need:

• up to 10 times the amount of light as the average 20-year-old.
• a light level of more than 100 foot-candles to be able to read comfortably.

Lighting manufacturer Holtkoetter has initiated and supported extensive research at the University of Colorado to study and develop the scientific basis of lighting for the aging eye and to research how good lighting can mitigate the effects of the natural physical changes we are all subjected to as time passes.
The findings were that the decrease in retinal illuminance requires a light level of more than 100 footcandles for optimal reading performance.
Holtkoetter therefore chose a 75-Watt or 100-Watt Halogen light bulb by Osram.
Its shape and the construction of the inside of the reflector, allow for a light level in excess of 100 footcandles.
A matte glass diffuser and a reflector that focuses the light only on the reading material will reduce glare and scattering.
Adjustable dimming controls and the adjustability of the physical reflector location allow the light levels to be set at the optimal position, reducing the need for the eye to adjust to different light levels. 
The study resulted in a series of table, chair-side and floor reading lamps.

One is an absolute winner: The Bernie LED floor lamp!! Priced at $898 it’s definitely not cheap, but it’s light output is just incredible! Equivalent to 1200 Lumens in an LED lamp! That’s big!!

The sleek and innovative Bernie Turbo Series Swing-Arm floor lamp is the 2011 winner of “Lighting for Tomorrow” competition that recognizes the best in decorative energy-efficient light fixtures.

With its 8 Cree LEDs it has an amazing light output of 1120 Lumens, which is equivalent to 80W Halogen!!

Like many of the Holtkoetter Lights, the Bernie LED floor lamp as the P1 Dimming System.

Holtkoetter Lighting 6424-LED Bernie Floor Lamp

Ingo Maurer: Oh Mei Ma

The question now is:  How many  electricians – and physicists – does it take to install the Oh Mei Ma?
I was SO incredibly fortunate to have both on hand. Great team work!