Michael Wilson Designs
michaelwilsondesigns.com
213-200-5207
Wimberley, TX

The rule of thumb in buying lighting is never altering the product or you will void the warranty. That may be true for John Q. Public, but not for Michael Wilson Designs. He took our Larmes Contemporary Twenty Four Light Multi Pendant (product page: http://www.affordablelamps.com/et-e20118-18.html), cut it up, and created the fusion masterpiece you see pictured above. This marvelous hybrid of Asian design with minimalism is a prime example of what cutting edge designers like Mr. Wilson are able to do with their imagination, woodworking skills, and hand crafted attention to detail. The ET2 Lighting Larmes Contemporary Twenty Four Light Multi Pendant fixture is a marvel in itself, but what Michael has done with it is strip it down to its core, discarding the metallic trappings, and allowed a wooden beauty to emerge. His Retail price is $3200.00 plus crating and shipping. Tell him Alan sent you, and he may cut you a deal.

Remakes are very common in popular culture. Witness how many times A Christmas Carol has been re-made (60), King Kong (four), War of the Worlds (five), plus now we have a plethora of TV shows back on the air like 90120, V, The Office, etc, not to mention spin offs like Law and Order, NCIS, etc., with their endless sequels.

Most remakes are never as good as the original. Take Planet of the Apes, for example. The first film is a classic, and stands the test of time. The sequels were of dubious quality at best, and the TV show was best forgotten. The last remake, with Mark Walberg, was a complete disaster, both creatively and financially. Yet Hollywood continues to remake properties over and over again, trying to milk every last dime out of them, as opposed to offering new, original scripts or at least adaptation of books that have never been done (FOUNDATION by Asimov, for example). When new films or TV shows do emerge, those are projects like Paranormal Activity, made for a paltry $11,000.00 that has now grossed $85,000,000.00 to date!

So if money is the prime reason why Hollywood continues to recycle old, stale properties, than they have really missed the point. Even if you factor in the advertising cost for this film, Paranormal Activity has generated at least $83,000,000.00 in gross profits. Do you think V or Apes, or Christmas Carol could do or have done that?

Which bring me to lamps and lighting. Why are many of the manufactures remaking the same, tired, boring designs over and over again? Isn’t this the 21st Century? Granted, there are a few forward thinking manufacturers like Varaluz, ET2, PLC and Hubbardton Forge who have embrace the future, but there are many companies out there that are just remaking the same old boring vanity lights, chandeliers, floor lamps and sconces, all incandescent or halogen, no green technology, and more importantly, no pizzazz.

Shouldn’t every fixture considered for production be green tech? Starting in California next year, this will be mandated by law. Yes, the wholesalers and retailers will be allowed to sell off their inventory (which will mean good short term savings and deals), but after a certain cut off date, that will be that, and no more. This happened 2 years ago with the 300 watt halogen fixtures, which were outlawed by an act of Congress, due to fire hazard, no to mention the high energy costs.

So the incandescent bulb is next to go, and all the fixtures that can only accommodate them. All of those remakes of the same tired, boring lamps are destined for oblivion.

Just like most of those tired old remakes of classic films and TV shows.

LED lighting and more specifically, LED Task Lights are getting creative as of late, as shown in this ET2 lighting fixture, the Jasper Modern Three Light LED Table Lamp (product page: http://www.affordablelamps.com/et-e20900-10.html). I find it funny though, that a company like ET2, that prides itself on futuristic designs, would come up with a 19th century name like Jasper for this Tokyo style, modern table lamp. I mean, Jasper, come on! The only Jasper I know was an old friend from Odense,  Denmark who I used to visit frequently, and he spelled his name Jesper. I should give him a call and told him they named a lamp in his honor.

OK, that being said, this Jasper is pretty darn cool, and I mean that literally. With only 3 watts of juice, LED style, at 3500°K, this LED task lamp puts out a lot of light, for very little energy expenditure. The three frosted spheres help distribute the light nicely, and it is an ideal fixture for study, reading, or playing cards, like I used to do with Jesper. This fixture measures 17.5” long by 10” tall, so it is large enough for most desks, yet sleek enough not to overwhelm them.

It is a little pricey at $331.00, but in Denmark it would cost 1986.00 Danish Kroner, so when you look it in those terms, it’s a bargain.

LED lighting is coming of age, and you are lucky to witness a plethora of new products in lighting design. One new player in the field is ET2 Lighting. Using their design acumen, they are taking formerly simple LED light fixtures into another direction, as task pendant lighting. The Pearl Twenty Light LED Pendant is one such fixture, measuring 28″ square with 7.5″ wide, and supplied with twelve feet of wire. This fixture features four glowing panels of clear and frosted glass, on a chrome frame, and uses twenty 1 watt LEDs, at 3000°K. This is a strictly contemporary fixture, perfect for modern construction. It might also be good for offices that wish to go green, and save energy, money, and even get a tax break. Now, that’s a pearl of wisdom if I ever heard one.

By definition, the unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection, refraction, and diffraction of light from the translucent layers. So the ET2 Pearl Six Light LED Wall Light (product page: http://www.affordablelamps.com/et-e20920-10.html) is aptly named, as this LED Lighting fixture does exactly that. This wonderful ET2 Lighting fixture measures 8″ square and extends 2.5″ from the wall and uses six 1W LED, 3000°K (included),  is ADA Compliant  and of course, is an energy saving fixtures, which is great for tax credits and lowering your power bill. So invest in this little Pearl of wisdom, and get the Pearl Six Light LED Wall Light mounted up on your wall, before the mollusks find out what you done with their shells!

There seems to be a trend in lighting today to mirror the old UFO images from the 1950’s. Leading the pack in this retro-design look is, amazingly enough, ET2. This company seems to thrive on mimicking every conceivable type of UFO, spaceship, spacecraft or rocket that emanated form that era. But don’t get me wrong, I love those old images, and I think that ET2, along with PLC Lighting, represent the new modern trend in design. I mean, it’s almost 2010, the year we make contact. Do you still want to have lamps from the McKinley era floating about? This Helix LED Lighting fixture (product page: http://www.affordablelamps.com/et-e20940-10.html) measures 20″ long by 4.5″ wide and extends 4″ from the wall and uses two 3 watt LED panels rated at 3500°K.  The Helix can be mounted horizontally or vertically, and the LED panel can be rotated up to one hundred degrees, howabouthat? But most importantly, it resembles one of those “cigar shaped” ships seen in photos from the ‘50’s. So smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and fire up the HELIX LED wall light. It is beyond contemporary.