Search

‘Midnight Oil‘ and ‘Eternal Flame’ LEDs Capture the Flicker of Real Candlelight

05.10.17 | By
‘Midnight Oil‘ and ‘Eternal Flame’ LEDs Capture the Flicker of Real Candlelight

It’s a simple idea executed with fairly simple technology: a small matrix of warm temperature LEDs programmed to dance and flicker like a small candle light flame. Yet in all of its simplicity, it’s enough to fool the eye into believing there’s a real flame inside Mori London’s pair of handmade minimalist glass lamps.

Mori London designer and founder, Moritz Waldemeyer, has a long history of experimenting with the concept of lighting explored through technology, spanning from his spiraling messageboard interactive chandelier for Swarovski and Ron Arad back in 2004 at Milan Design Week, to his most recent work using liquid ink displays to dazzle attendees at the Versace Fall 2017 runway show. The scale of these two new LED lamps – ‘Midnight Oil‘ and ‘Eternal Flame’ – is smaller and more intimate, but showcase the same attention to motion and light as his previous projects.

The realism of the simulated candle light is attributed to a custom algorithm programmed into an Arduino-compatible ARM processor; the flame animation continually and randomly changes with the same unpredictable complexity of real fire. The lamp is rechargeable via microUSB connection.

Mori London (Note: site currently unavailable) was successfully funded as a Kickstarter project, with first batch pre-orders about to ship out to first wave backers. Follow their Instagram for additional news and announcements about future availability.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.