Plumen's 003 Lamp Debuts at MoMA Design Stores

London-based design studio Hulger, in collaboration with product designer Claire Nacross and French jewelry designer Marie-Laure Giroux, released its third lamp design—the Plumen 003—in the United States this past April through an exclusive two-month partnership with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) whereby buyers could purchase the product at the institution’s two design stores in New York and online. The lamp originally debuted in the United Kingdom in September 2016. Plumen 003 marks the company's second partnership with MoMA, following in the footsteps of its first luminaire, Plumen 001 (2010), and now a permanent item in the museum's prestigious design collection.

Courtesy Plumen/Andrew Penketh

Plumen lamp (bulb) detail.

Courtesy Plumen/Andrew Penketh

Aluminum chamber with a gold reflector element found at the center of the lamp (bulb).

Inspired by the aesthetics and illumination techniques behind Danish architect Poul Henningsen's 1925 PH lamp

, the Plumen 003, which took five years to design, is an LED bulb that aims to emulate the warmth of incandescent light through the use of optical shafts that help direct and reflect the light source housed in the lamp’s center section. The aluminum chamber, designed by Giroux, features a gold reflector element with a gem-cut surface pattern to help reduce glare. The result is a lamp that acts as an accent light with a soft ambient glow (10W equivalent at 1900K), as well as a direct downward spotlight (60W equivalent at 2500K).

Courtesy Plumen/ Ester Keate

Deconstructed aluminum chamber detail.

The Plumen 003 measures 7.5"-tall-by-6"-wide, and can be ceiling-mounted or suspended from a 6.5'-long fabric cord to be installed as an individual lamp or in a group. The lamp uses 6.5W and is available in 2400K at a CRI of 80-plus and delivers 250 lumens. According to the manufacturer, it is compatible with most trailing edge dimmers. A list of tested dimmer switches is available at plumen.com/dimming.

Courtesy Plumen

The company's previous lamp design, the Plumen 002, was crowd-sourced through an online Kickstarter campaign in 2014.