Since moving two-and-a-half years ago, whenever winter arrives I’m reminded of something that I’d like to change about this house: the lighting. Looking around the house on these gloomy winter days, particularly in the sitting room where I work, and which only gains daylight from the neighbouring room, I always wish that we had more integrated lighting. As an aside, but also linked to this, I also wish we had more plug points, especially with two of us now working from home, as the number of sockets you find in an old house just doesn’t cut it for how much tech we need to plug in and use, far less the additional lighting required for long hours at a desk. If we were redoing this house from scratch, I’d start with the lighting and work from there, focussing on the darker areas that would really benefit from well considered lighting, including our work spaces.
While thinking about this, I happened across these modular, battery-powered Humble One lights, which are perfect for the tables, shelves, and nooks in your home where you’re unable to plug in. Right now, I’d sit one of these on the shelf above my desk, where a portable light would illuminate the whole corner of the room.
The Humble One lights, which I spotted on Ionian Interiors, are interesting because they combine a very current aesthetic thanks to the vintage-style, incandescent type bulb, with a clean, minimal design and really great functionality. The concept was created by the Amsterdam-based Studio APE, and the Humble One is the first battery-powered, modular light to put the bulb front and centre. While the bulbs look vintage, they contain lots of tiny LEDs, making them ultra energy-efficient.
The lights have three dimmable settings: set the brightness to (1) for the softness of candle light, (2) for ambient light, or (3) for work. I particularly love this feature as it means you can simply move your light from space to space – say, from the shelf above my desk to our dining table at night – and change the lighting mood.
Another interesting feature of these lights is how long they hold their charge. On ‘work’ a single charge produces at least 45 hours of light, while ‘candle’ can go as high as 120 hours, which is impressive. And the lamps can be charged via USB cable (which is supplied), wirelessly on any Qi-standard charger, or on the matching 10W bamboo humble® dock.
The Humble One is available in six base finishes: black marble, gold, dark grey, off white, walnut, and white marble. I’d choose walnut – which would you go for?
For more, visit Humble Lights. Follow Humble Lights on Instagram here.
You can purchase these lamps from Ionian Interiors.
