Many people these days try hard to find things that will help them relax and break free of stress, but Mother Nature has had solutions for these since the beginning of our planet. Gently flowing brooks, soft raindrops, and rhythmic crashing of waves are just some of the sounds that help bring our minds to a calmer state. Trees gracefully dancing in the wind and light playing on the water’s surface offer a similar hypnotic effect to our eyes. While these occur naturally outdoors, some are harder to recreate indoors and on demand. We have many audio files and even services that try to bring these calming sounds to our ears, and this artistic kinetic lamp tries to do the same for our eyes by mimicking the hypnotic effect of light reflecting off the water and onto surfaces.
Designer: Fernando Correa
There is something truly captivating about the way light reflects and refracts on some surfaces, especially on things like glass and water. There’s a certain magical quality to the random patterns they draw, causing our eyes to follow the dynamic movement and our brains to let go. Sometimes we can see these patterns on windows and other reflective objects, but they don’t always carry the dynamism of light on real water surfaces.
BE WATER is a lamp that is part lighting fixture and part art installation. Given its name, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it has something to do with water, particularly the way light bends and bounces on liquid. But rather than actually using water, which is an invitation for disaster when mixed with electricity-powered lighting, the lamp uses deformed borosilicate glass to capture the rippling surface of the water. And to somewhat recreate the movement of water, the cylindrical glass turns on its axis, causing the projected light to fluctuate in dazzling patterns as it moves.
The lamp itself has an anodized aluminum base that holds the LED lamp underneath the glass. The borosilicate glass is deformed by hand, making each BE WATER lamp truly one-of-a-kind. In order to better reproduce light reflecting from water onto surfaces and avoid people’s shadows from marring the scene, the lamp is best placed along a wall to create a mystifying and sometimes eerie effect.
It doesn’t have to be just white light either. By simply applying filters to the LED light source on the aluminum base, one can easily change the hues that one can display. Thus, the lamp can also be fire, air, or even earth without having to produce a completely new product with a completely different material. The filters can also be used to create themed colors for different occasions or motifs, all with the same mesmerizing light show.
After seeing it in action, the BE WATER lamp seems almost too simple to be that effective. And yet that is exactly the kind of message and experience that it tries to convey. Many things in nature are simple and simply beautiful, and they can become sources of inspiration for your next big creative breakthrough.
