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Base Forge’s ‘Lightest’ lamp will levitate, change color, brighten your day

Want to really light up a room? Then what you’re looking for, my friend, is a levitating lamp that won’t just offer illumination from a boring grounded position, but shine its light out while simultaneously hovering in the air.

Thankfully designers Base Forge have come to the rescue with just such a product, currently raising funds via a Kickstarter campaign. Called Lightest, the levitating lamp not only floats, but also changes color via a smartphone app.

“As an architect by training and an industrial designer by profession I’m always involved in cutting edge technologies with clients,” creator Chris Muscat Azzopardi told Digital Trends. “This project of levitating a product was one theme that kept recurring, and when I mixed it with another project we had developed using wireless electricity transfer I was enamored with the idea of joining the two.”

The levitation itself relies on a strong magnet in the light’s wooden base, providing the main lift, while a strong smaller magnet in the levitating platform and four small electromagnets provide added stability. The LED light, meanwhile, is rated to last for 50,000 hours and — thanks to a battery in the base — is entirely portable, so you can take it outside for a picnic should you so wish.

“For the creatives and techies out there we have made the lampshade detachable, meaning that anyone can handcraft their own lampshade or 3D-print their own,” Azzopardi continued. “You can also create a small illuminated platform to hover a trophy or toy model. There’s even a maker’s kit that just includes the magnet, without the platform and lampshade or light, so you can attach this to any non-metallic object and float whatever you like.”

If you want to get hold of a Lightest levitating light for yourself, you can place a pre-order on Kickstarter, where a base and lamp will set you back 140 euros ($152).

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Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
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