LEDs free lighting designers to create beauty, utility

From desk lamps to camping lanterns, LEDs help Koncept do it all

August 11, 2016

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LED technology allows us to watch thin TVs and drive cars with fancy headlamps. But the compact, cooler, and energy-efficient light source also frees up designers to do entirely new things with illumination.

Designers like Kenneth and Edmund Ng, for instance. Since 2002, the brothers have been using LEDs to take light fixtures in entirely new directions.

Koncept Gravy wall sconces come in multiple colors and can be mounted almost anywhere there's an outlet. They double as accent lighting and task lighting.

Their firm, Koncept, is most famous for its Z-Bar LED task light. Later, the brothers penned fold-up wall sconces, thin overhead lamps, and colorful freestanding light bars—all thanks to LEDs.

Since both brothers began designing lamps once LEDs became commercially viable, neither one can imagine a world without them. And it shows in their creations.

Take, for instance, the Mr. Go!—a battery-powered outdoor lantern and USB charger that's going on sale in November. A thin blade of light, its curved, minimalist shape can either sit on a surface or hang from a tree branch or umbrella.

It's useful, too: The battery can last between five and 20 hours, depending on brightness, and you can fully charge your phone twice through an included USB outlet. In fact, I was so taken with it when I saw it at the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles, I immediately decided I'd buy one as a wedding gift for an outdoorsy-yet-modern coworker.

The Mr. Go! outdoor and camping lantern features a USB charger.

While a $200 price tag also outshines some simpler lanterns like the $30 Mr. Beams, the new lamp from Koncept serves a design function as well as a practical one.

Other Koncept-branded products made possible thanks to the LED include a wall sconce that swivels to become a reading lamp, tall floor lamps, and the Mr. N—an attractive, curved table lamp.