Breaking Bulbs: 3D-Printed Lamps Seem to Shatter

The moment that a light bulb shatters upon impact with a hard surface is frozen in time with ‘Breaking Bulbs,’ a series of 3D-printed lamps by Swedish company Gässling. Made of a durable, lightweight nylon material, the series of three lamps includes three variations representing different ways of destroying glass bulbs.

‘Oops, I dropped the bulb’ is a table or floor lamp shattered into shards after hitting a surface from above, while ‘wrecking bulb’ is a cracked wall lamp. “Bullet meet bulb’ is a pendant lamp reminiscent of high-speed bullet photograph, wherein the split-second that a bullet crashes through an object is captured on camera.

“I wanted to challenge myself and create object which would not be possible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods,” says designer Joakim Christoffersson. “The goal with the Breaking Bulbs project was to explore the 3D printing technology and find out how far I could push the technology. It’s a project which stands somewhere between art and design.”

Each bulb is available in a range of colors, powered by a 6W warm LED. They’re available for €399 (about $548) at the Gässling shop.