Are you old enough to remember the Clapper? It was the device that changed how people turned their lights on and off. Before, most lights turn on one of two ways: the flip a switch or turning a knob. If you are tech savvy, you might control your lights with a capacitive sensor or even a smartphone app.

However, if you still prefer to use your hands, then the Heng Balance Lamp is the most creative ideation of the light switch in years.

Redesigning the light switch

Just because something works one way doesn’t mean it can’t work another. Li Zan Wen, an award-winning Chinese designer, wanted a novel way to redesign a light switch. His challenge was to keep it functional while remaining aesthetically pleasing.

Li’s solution was the Heng Balance Lamp. Heng, which means balance in Chinese, is what this lamp is all about. Li’s desktop lamp relies on a pair of magnets, suspended on strings, to pull an internal switch.

 “The way of pulling the switch is inspired by the old ‘pulling switches’ of our childhood memories,” says project manager Lisze Siaw.

By moving the two wooden spheres with embedded magnets, they attract one another, thereby triggering the switch. Lift the bottom ball into close proximity with the upper ball to activate the lights. Once there, magnets inside the wooden spheres keep them in place.

The appearance and design of the Heng Balance Lamp is based on the traditional Chinese round fans and window frames. And when constructing the lamps, Li used a high-quality beechwood material; beechwood represents the warm feeling of nature. 

The lights themselves are placed inside the ring-shaped frame and, when turned on, illuminate the frame.

Heng Balance Lamp

The design concept won a Red Dot Design Award in 2016, and Allocacoc DesignNest launched an edition of the lamp through Kickstarter.

Breaking away from traditions, this lamps unique design is available for purchase in several colours here.

Source: https://www.wired.com/2017/01/heng-lamp/