Incandescents held out for a long time before compact fluorescents came onto the scene, able to fit in the same fixtures, and now light-emitting diodes are gaining ground … largely before creative types have had a chance to make headway (so to speak) with hacking out variants on this intermediate bulb.

But Solovyov stopped and took notice, recognizing creative potential in the coiled form unique to the interstitial CFL stage of home lighting evolution. It is just an idea, for the moment, but face it: while neat at first, do you really want faux brains floating above your office desk or living room sofa?

This hybrid brain combines a potential inherent in the bent form of a CFL with the classic and well-known graphic of a light bulb (representing an spark of inspiration, invention or innovation) hovering over a human head. Only here is touch more realism – after all, how often do you think about the noodly insides of your noggin?

“As a part of International Design Biennale, which took place in Saint-Etienne on March 14th through 31st, the Cite du design presented 80 most significant exhibitions of the Biennale, including ‘Vous Voulez rire’ exhibition, which was curated by Benjamin Girard. The ‘Insight’ project by Maria and Igor Solovyov was chosen for the exhibition.”

Another interesting design by the Solovyov duo is the Inversion. “Idea of ‘Inversion’ light is to turn the lampshade inside out. Bell shaped transparent form meets parallelepiped and the new life is born. You may see tender and rigidity, smoothness and structural, dynamic and static being in harmony like the unity of opposites here.”

About the designers:

“We are – Maria and Igor Solovyov – industrial designers, based in Minsk, Belarus. We do product design. You may see conceptual and realized projects in our portfolio. Our clients are from Belarus, Russia, USA, France and China. At Solovyovdesign, our purpose is to create useful, emotional and beautiful objects with the finest craftsmanship. We value collaboration, and we are interested in working with manufacturers worldwide.”