9 Sexy & Cool Lighting with (Amazingly) Green Creds!

If you think eco-friendly lighting is boring and stodgy, think again. Trying to outdo my post on stylish ‘green’ lighting, here are 9 fixtures from renewable naturals and manmade products that will turn your head. I love the play between light and texture of these colorful fixtures and I’m sure you will too. Enjoy!

Lighting Fixture on a ladder
A lamp after every snake charmer’s heart!

The Climbing Lamp by Son of Nils is made from recycled (and very well travelled) climbing ropes that seem to defy gravity. Available as table, wall or ceiling lamps, you can shape the first 4.5 ft of cord to climb up a ladder, drape on a table or hang in a crazy kilter from the ceiling. The shade can even be tilted to create directional lighting. Now that’s what I call a flexible lighting fixture!

LED pendant of ash branches
A pendant made from ash branches. The green lichen contrasts nicely with the eye-catching red cables and adds a bright touch to the lamp shades’ otherwise neutral palette.

The Biomass light is made from minimally processed local ash branches to maintain each fixture’s unique texture. Powered by a high efficiency LED lamp, the fixture is an artful marriage of nature and industrial design.

A pendant light made from recycling industrial waste
Waste not, want not! HUSH Shade is the happy byproduct of recycling industrial waste.

As part of designer Freyja Sewell’s minimal waste philosophy, the HUSH Shade upcycles scraps of industrial felt left from the production of her furniture line. As an added bonus: the biodegradable wool is naturally flame retardant and eliminates the need for chemical treatments.

Red cord seems au courant with lighting designers, but it does make a striking fixture! The light source can be a design statement showcasing the award winning Plumen 001 bulb or discretely hidden using a compact fluorescent lamp to cast a delicate wash.

Suspended lighting fixture made of handmade bamboo paper
Elegant pendant fixture celebrates the fusion of rapidly renewable resources and age old tradition.

Created by the Chinese design firm Pinwu, the Luò lamp is based on the ancient craft of handmade bamboo paper. Made entirely of bamboo pulp, the shade’s irregular edges highlight the sensuous texture and uniqueness of each light fixture.

A lamp shade made from recycled sun screen material
Hands-on fun – the lamp shade can be fluffed into shape by hand!

Design Stories collaborates with local artisans and manufacturers to create sustainable products on a large scale. The environment friendly Drawstring Lamp is made with remnants from sun shielding material, wood scraps and repurposed bicycle spokes. The colorful shades are specially designed to work with LED and fluorescent bulbs to cast a warm glow when lit.

Pendant light fixture made from willow reeds
An environmentally friendly light fixture made from hundreds of willow reeds threaded into a wire circle.

The simple willow arrangement of the Glade Pendant produces shadows with a zen-like aesthetic. High quality LEDs help to create the crisp silhouette.

Cube-shaped lighting made from baked sand
Sustainable lighting fixtures made from the most abundant natural resource on earth!

Sand Light, as its name suggests, is made of sand. The innovative design firm alien and monkey uses a kiln to create light cubes out of sand based material. The versatile products can be hung as pendants, used as table lamps or stacked into a tower as floor lamps. The best feature is that each biodegradable fixture will eventually break down into sand at the end of life when it can be recycled into one’s own back yard!

Pendant light made from repurposed socks
These exquisite pendants are made with – you’ll never guess – upcycled old socks!

Jay Watson repurposes discarded socks and treats them with a sunflower-based eco resin to create the Sock Pendant Lights. Each pendant is unique as the visual texture depends on the weave of the sock used.

To be even more eco-conscious, the lighting uses recycled sockets and high efficacy, super bright LEDs for superior color consistency and light output. If you want to reincarnate your old socks into lighting fixtures, Jay will gladly take freshly laundered socks – singles or in pairs – for custom orders!

Suspended light of finely shredded bamboo
What do you think – is Pinwu the Vidal Sassoon of lighting design??

The Xuán lamp by Pinwu is made of long, fine strands of bamboo. The word ‘xuán’ in Chinese means flutter or swirl. Not sure how much work it takes to turn out the well-primped lampshade – but when it gets windy, these manicured tresses can resemble the equivalent of a bad hair day!

I hope you’re inspired by this collection of sublimely hip and eco-conscious lighting fixtures. These designers have variously worked with highly renewable materials, repurposed existing products and upcycled consumer or industrial waste to create some incredibly cool lighting. Thanks to them we can all enjoy living green in style!

Comments

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  • Many of these are pendant fixtures, so will work in a dining room nicely – in fact Son of Nils has a chandelier version of the Climbing Lamp.
    Hallways usually have less headroom so wall sconces will be a better fit.

  • Fascinating atmospheric light fixtures! Do you think a hallway or a dining room would be a good place for one of these?

  • That’s a great idea! This will bridge the gap between big manufacturers who get their raw materials from recyclers and the craftsmen who probably don’t buy in bulk but do ‘cash & carry’ instead.

  • What fun! It would be really cool if manufacturers had a place to sell usable scraps (trash) to artisans. So instead of a craft store, it would be a reusable trash store. Waste not, want not. Thanks Marie. Always enjoy your great finds.