Incredible Looking Styrofoam Chandelier: Uses Something From Apple

I don't know about you, but I've never really thought much about Styrofoam. I mean, sure it's perfect for packaging fragile stuff and we all know that it's something that we need to recycle. Sure, kids love to destroy it but I've never thought about using the stuff for lighting. That's what Eric Lawrence decided to do and he didn't just use any Styrofoam. He used Styrofoam that came from Apple.

I don't know what's more amazing. The incredible sci-fi look that was achieved by this DIY Styrofoam chandelier or the fact that Eric's Styrolight uses the molded Styrofoam packaging that Apple uses to ship their laptops. This unique lighting fixture also won him the Sustainable prize in the Design Within Reach Austin's M+D+F competition.

The frame of the chandelier was made out of aluminum. The 16 bulbs in this lamp are 5W compact fluorescent bulbs which generate very little heat but make the same light as 20W incandescent bulbs. I wonder what the result would have been if he had used LEDs. His build necessitates some electrical know-how. The frame needs to be assembled and the bulbs need to be fitted. If you are comfortable with electrical work, this should be something you could do. [via Make, images by Eric Lawrence]

Comments (2)

Awesome idea! Only good design w/ styrofoam I've ever seen

posted by rapidtransitman on May 11th 2009 at 7:52pm
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"Incredible Looking Styrofoam Chandelier: Uses Something From Apple"

"That's what Eric Lawrence decided to do and he didn't just use any Styrofoam. He used Styrofoam that came from Apple. "

Um, so? Does this add some sort of wow factor to it? Or are we supposed to just wet our pants with glee because the Styrofoam came from an Apple box? Heaven help us if that's the only reason the writer cared about this.

Nice project. Bizarre write-up.

posted by PartMeant on May 11th 2009 at 9:43pm
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