Decorate your home with the Arc, an LED bulb tested in near space

If a light bulb could ever be the light of your life, the Arc by Swedish design brand Flyte might be it. Heralded as the ultimate minimal, dimmable LED bulb, this new Kickstarter project has already more than tripled its $25,000 funding goal, impressing nearly 800 backers (as of press time) with its sleek, elegant design. But if aesthetics alone don’t endear the Arc to you, then perhaps the science behind the bulb will — Flyte claims that the bulb was tested near space “to capture light in its most precious moments: Up in the stratosphere.”

The team sent its bulb on a balloon 500 miles from the Arctic Circle, allowing the Arc to fly high above the Earth’s surface to ensure that its light still shown bright. Flyte notes that unlike most LED filaments, the Arc bulb features a light guide that spreads its illumination for different intensities. As such, the light emitted from the Arc bulb looks something like the glow from a candle, with various tones and colors.

It’s a new venture for Flyte, who is known better for its gravity-defying objects, including planters and clocks. And while the company has created lights before, never have they developed a designer LED bulb, much less one inspired by the Nordic climate.

Seeking to subvert the notion that LED lights are only ever cold and harsh, the Arc promises responsible design on top of energy efficiency and the brightness that we commonly associate with these bulbs. “Arc is like looking into the warm blaze of a fire,” the Flyte team notes on its Kickstarter page. “It is intended to be appreciated.”

Capable of withstanding the elements (even at stratospheric altitudes), the Arc’s efficient light emitting diodes have a life expectancy of 30,000 hours. That means that if you were to use this bulb for six hours every day, you’d be able to get 14 years out of a single Arc light. Meant to beautify just about any interior, the Arc fits into any E27/E26 socket and is fully dimmable. Thanks to its shatter-proof polycarbonate shell, this should be quite the sturdy light fixture as well. A pledge of $34 or more should get your Arc delivered in June.