Hand-Powered Lamp

Tags:: Design; Lighting; Exhibition

Producing power by harnessing kinetic energy from human and animal movement is a great idea but one with few good results. Disco-ball lights powered by club-goers getting down on the dance floor is a fun concept but ultimately unsustainable—one can only do the Electric Slide for so long—and there are simply not enough hamsters in the world for those rodent-wheel-energy fantasies to be fulfilled. Recently, Swedish designer Karin Johansson approached the concept with a slightly new angle, generating light through a familiar activity: Spinning a globe.

— Miyoko Ohtake

The Dynamic Lamp (stationary) by Karin Johansson

"My Dynamic Lamp is a part of the wireless society," Johansson writes about her design. "It doesn't need any power supply or batteries; it just works with your own energy. It is based on the idea of producing your energy where you are, instead of transporting it in all directions across the earth. The sole by-product is exercise."

Photo by Andreas Nyquist

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