made this for you | the future isn’t what it used to be

When I think about what makes Lego a great product, three things come to mind: form, function, and personality. No other product design in my life has captured my heart more then this cubic clicky block.

The Lego and Lincoln Logs are the only toys I can remember playing with at a young age. I would spend hours creating entire towns, vehicles, creatures, whatever. These toys where literally the building blocks for every future creative outlet that I have had to this day. Today, every piece I create is modular and editable after production.

There has been a huge resurgence in Lego activity in the past few years. I see a handful of posts a week about people recreating buildings or pop culture items to an exacting degree. Some lego artists are even removing existing cases on products, and re-covering them with legos. And a few are actually creating something entirely new, like artist Nathan Sawaya.

This brings me to a beautiful Lego Lamp piece by Tzuwei Tai.  It has all the ideals I covet in a product. The best part is that it actually look like a Lego.  So for me, just looking at it makes my heart smile.  One added benefit to this piece in relation to Lego, is that it actually performs a real world function- light. [via DesignZen]

While doing a search for more info about this design, we ran across some other notable Lego lights. Here they are:

These lamps could be a nice addition to any one’s desk or entertainment area. More info via Technobob.

The next set is definitely the most sculptural of the grouping. You have over 200 pieces to work with to create your ultimate R2D2 or Cartman Lego light. This looks like a fun rainy day project, with an A+ for the instant gratification perk. This can purchased  from Red 5.

The last set I would call “kind-of”  lego. The Brick Bright from OutofStock Studio reminds us more of old 8-bit icon design. This is the type of product that Susan Kare should be producing. She is most known for designing the original Mac OS icons.  More info via Yanko Design.

I do know that lego uses 100% of its plastic in all their products. In other words, there is no wasted material. I would like to imagine that the products above do the same. Another thought… are these lights keeping with the spirit of Lego? I know that with some of the ones mentioned above you can form different shapes with them. Can you make a table lamp into a sconce, though? Or even make a sconce into a flashlight? Are they building blocks or just molded plastic?

Take Away
The concept of using Legos as a design foundation seems so simple, and yet brings to light huge ideas to consider when creating a product. How can it be created without any excess waste? How can it be purposed and re-purposed after it’s created? And, how can it do all that while keeping a permagrin on the end-users experience?