It takes a special kind of designer to look at an item and combine it in his mind with a completely unrelated item. Such was the case with Philippe Malouin. According to his website, the idea for his Dervish Lamp came to him one day while he was repaying a favor from a friend:

“While borrowing a friends car for the day, I decided to have it washed to show my gratitude. I pulled into an automated carwash, and while inside, I couldnt help but notice how the carwash brushes completely alter their shape from flimsy drooping hair covered rods to massive powerful beams. Could this quality of transformation be applied to the home sector? Where would a transforming apparatus find use in the home?

The carwash brushes go from limp, to cones, to beams. A lamp could use this whimsical feature to direct light, from a tube of light to a cone, to an open light source. The contraption, with its spinning, would produce a rather considerable amount of wind. Ceiling fans have not changed in the slightest ever since their introduction. Apart from finishes and rotation speed, they have always remained rather dull.

By morphing the ever-changing carwash brushes with a ceiling fan, a new product is achieved and completely redefines ceiling fans. The piece is called Dervish, its spinning qualities remind one of the Turkish spinning dancers going in a trance.”

The resulting lamp/ceiling fan does indeed invoke thoughts of car wash brushes when in motion. And the spectacle of this device in your living room would undoubtedly be more interesting than the dull wood-grain blades characteristic of most other ceiling fans. One of the best parts of the Dervish lamp is the metamorphosis it undergoes when put into motion. When the flexible strands are standing still, the lamp has a soft and sophisticated look. But set the device spinning and the strands stand out in an exuberant display. The energy and whimsy are most definitely akin to spinning dancers.