Ingo Maurer is more than just a creator of lights. He is an expressive artist that creates poetic visuals that will brighten your world both literally and figuratively – and it all started with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling above his bed. He thought “what a magnificent shape”. Thus, began his journey as one of the most amazing lighting designers ever.

Ingo Maurer Lights – Exploring the Light Bulb

Many of Ingo Maurer lights showcase bulbs in various forms of flight. It makes sense since light designs are often suspended from the ceiling. This desk version, called Lucellino, incorporates stiff chords dancing up into the air to depict the flight of the bulb, as do the wings of course.

Stiff chords and a bulb suspended in the air can also represent a staider design. Even so, the mickey ears on Toto take you on a journey of childhood. A more abstract motion but motion none the less.

One of Ingo Maurer’s first designs, Bulb showcases a bulb within a bulb. Light and shade as duplicates. What better way to celebrate the shape of a bulb than this.

In the above left photo Ingo Maurer poetically represents the bulb as an miniature installation called Monument for a Bulb and in the above right photo the bulb called Fly showcases the side effect of its design.

Many of Ingo Maurer lights use multiple bulbs in swarm gatherings and are a precursor to his Op Art designs.

Aside from birds and flys, there are also designs that revolve around the delicate butterfly and in this ase also the dragonfly.

Ingo Maurer Lights – Op Art, Pop Art and More

Comic Explosion is a Pop Art statement that also incorporates Ingo Maurer’s love of implied motion.

The first design that incorporates clips with notes hand written by the owner, this design has been copied by others. Those who love leaving notes of inspiration around their house would have a field day with this design.

Andy Warhol is not the only one who knows how to make a can of soup be oh so much more, it’s a great tribute to a one of a kind artist as is the Ingo Maurer design shown above right aptly called Lichenstein.

Designed as a corner light, Licht Licht (above left) is inscribed with a haidu in Japanese and English. When the light is turned off, the name appears in fluorescent characters on the film. Above right Porca Miseria! is a piece that was designed as an anti design but quickly became iconic. Porcelain dinnerware is literally smashed and carefully arranged to create an explosion of dishes. This light has made the rounds of so many Facebook and Pinterest posts without an Ingo Maurer design credit attached. Too bad.

Like a kinetic sculpture, Ru Ku Ku (above left) balances an egg and a bulb on either end of a trapeze’s balancing stick. Mickey’s Manifesto (above right) was designed specifically as a request for a piece with figures from a Disney range. It features a whole group of Mickey’s with light rods and 3 Mickey’s leaping into the air yelling “yeeahh”, “are we a world cultural heritage?” and “what’s going on?”.

When I look at this egg I see a dinosaur egg but it could just as easily be a chicken egg. Called Broken Egg (above right) the original design was for a 2013 installation in Brazil and the size is mammoth at an amazing 25 metres long and 15 metres wide. The idea was and is a flight of stairs that lead up to a crack and inside a flight of stairs lead back down to a comfortable interior space. The egg is now also produced in a residential scale, designed to suspend from the ceiling without the stairs or interior space (above left).

Ingo Maurer Lights – The Industrial Aesthetic

Lights, camera, action! Double C Future and Double T Future are both one-off designs with flexible LED spotlights and ball-joints that make it easy to tilt the pendant head. Although industrial in nature, this designe is just as poetic as the previous lights, telling a story of stories.

The op art effect of this industrial looking light is oh so clever. Like a napkin drying on a clothesline and rustling in a breeze, Dew Drops is a transparent plastic sheet with integrated LEDs to create the effect of water droplets on a piece of cloth.

Circuit boards, satellite dishes, alligator clips - what’s not to love about this ingo Maurer design? I especially like the almost shrine stance of the two candle bulbs overlooking the room from their elevated position. The king and Queen of a chess board standing proudly on a circuit board, so poetic.

Kokoro and One From the Heart

What’s not to love about Ingo Maurer lights?

You might also like;

Indoor Ventless Ethanol Fireplaces

2 Girls Building by architects KUD and artist Samantha Everton

Violin shaped swimming pool by Cipriano Landscape Design

Knotty Bubbles Lighting by Lindsey Adelmann

Cactus chair, dress chair and more from the mind of Vedat Ulgen

Head, hand and mouth lamps made from cast concrete by CEK

Heart Furniture ideas for a Modern Home or Garden