Might we all, one day, be reading by the light of an eggshell?
While the idea may sound somewhat far-fetched, an artist/designer in the Netherlands is already selling both light bulbs and table lamps, that feature, in the first instance, eggshells and in the second eggshells and egg boxes.
Ruben de Haas’ Egglamps use eggshells to replace the glass traditionally used for light bulbs, but he’s not interested in any old eggshells.
According to the artist, during the design process, he discovered B eggs, those that were too ugly for consumers and are typically sold to bakers to use in their production. With their weird, deformed look, he found them to be more beautiful than the regular eggs that appear on supermarket shelves and they have become outer casing of his light bulbs, replacing the glass.
Aesthetics to one side, what may, at first glance, appear to be a good, environmentally friendly use for a material that there is certainly plenty of, these lightbulbs are not without their problems.
The artist admits that Egglamps, while seemingly eco-friendly, are far from sustainable. This is because, currently, he uses lightbulbs imported from China, disassembles them, and rebuilds them with eggshells. He adds, however, that he has entered into discussions with bulb manufacturers to make the process better
“Perhaps in the future, all lightbulbs can be made from eggs. For many people, it’s a wase product; they are actually pretty strong and make great lightbulbs,” the artist says.
Boxing clever
This difficulty has not stopped De Haas going a step further, however, and he has also designed a table lamp, which was featured at Dutch Design Week in October, allowing purchasers to display their Egglamps in their “proper context”.
This proper context is an eggbox. Each box is carefully selected, the artist says, to ensure fine quality and print, with each one being slightly different, just like eggs.
The boxes are weighted by cement inside and have an on off switch, and the artist advises yelling “Cockadoodledoo” the first time you turn the lamp on.
So there you have it. Eggs already light up our lives in so many ways, but if you would like an Eggbox Lamp, it retails for approximately EUR249 (US$267), while just the bulb can be purchased for EUR39.
