Design Spotlight: Dusk to Dawn Lamp

The Dusk to Dawn Lamp has a minimalist design, choosing to evoke the memory of the sun’s natural motion and feel not from ornate decoration but from the carefully designed light itself. It consists simply of a black metal pole, a heavy base, and a disc-shaped light source which can be manually slid up and down the pole. The light source can also be rotated around the base which allows for the option of choosing from direct lamp-like light or a softer, more serene atmosphere when the light source faces the wall.

Although the artistic purpose of the Dusk to Dawn Lamp is to remind the viewer of the rising and setting sun, the lamp has a clever practical use as well. The human body’s circadian rhythm is the innate sense of when it’s time to fall asleep or wake up, which is triggered by the sun’s rotation around the earth. This sense functions much less efficiently in a world where a large majority of the human population languishes under fluorescent lights all day. Artificial light confuses that primal sense and interferes greatly with sleep patterns. The Dusk to Dawn Lamp circumvents that by providing the body with the natural light cues it needs to restore its internal light-based clock. A few minutes of exposure when it’s time to transition between sleep and wakefulness will help the body remember its natural instincts and restore this internal timer.