Levitating Flyte Lamp
Inspired in part by creator Simon Morris’ obsession with hoverboards, a seemingly magical lightbulb
Good design catches your eye immediately, making you wonder why nobody had ever thought of that idea before. And yet, the times when you have to look twice to make sure you’re actually seeing what you’re seeing are rare. New lamp Flyte definitely makes you look again. The stylish lightbulb appears to rewrite the laws of physics as it floats in the air above its wooden base. Created by artist Simon Morris and made in Sweden from sustainable oak, ash and walnut combined with low-energy LED lights, the lightbulb hovers by magnetic levitation and is powered wirelessly through the air. The result is a lamp that looks less like a piece of design and more like a sleight of hand or illusion, rotating in space seemingly unaffected by gravity.
Flyte is the result of Morris’ fixation with levitation, which has interested him since his teens. “When I was 16, I dreamt of having a hoverboard and became so fascinated by magnetic levitation I began building my own prototypes with magnets. Fifteen years later I built a hoverboard prototype. Although I couldn’t ride on it, it floated in the air. I began sharing it with friends and remember the look on people’s faces. Later, I started levitating other objects, working with brands like Nike and Urban Ears to build magnetic levitation installations like shoes, headphones and speakers,“ he tells CH.
With a background in science and art, Morris started experimenting with how magnetic levitation could be developed further and combined with wireless power, based on Nikola Tesla’s experiments, and his experiments eventually resulted in Flyte. The bottom of the bulb contains a wireless power receiver and a magnet, while the base has a wireless power transmitter and an electromagnet. Magnetism pushes up the bulb, making the Flyte light float and rotate in the air, and demonstrating in a very tangible way how technology really can come close to magic. The lamp doesn’t need a battery and—if having a magic floating light isn’t enough for you—its base can also wirelessly charge smartphones.
Flyte’s name is reminiscent of the words for both flight and light, as well as the Swedish word for “float,” neatly encompassing all the aspects that make the light so unique. The clean, Scandinavian design of the lamp underlines its fascinating otherworldliness. Morris concludes: “The suspension of the light bulb has a direct relation to the suspension of belief; it references the floating sensation we feel while dreaming, or our childhood fantasies of magic carpet rides and Hoverboards.”
Flyte was created by Morris, who works with Assembled in Sweden, and just launched on Kickstarter today.
Images courtesy of Flyte
