This friendly and characterful lamp is a member of our LightBEAM collection, and was inspired by the Great Bustard—the heaviest flying animal alive today, and one that became extinct in the UK in 1872 but is now being reintroduced.

Background

This chirpy little bird-lamp was the last of the three members of the LightBEAM collection to take shape and came about when playing with the telescoping beam idea some more, and finding that by turning it upside down it immediately looked bird-like (again)—this time with a much more cheeky character than the more languid Crane lamp. To balance the beak shaped shade, we wanted a big extravagant tail—initially we thought some sort of copper fan, but ended up taking a cue from our Pebble Chain clock and using hand-turned hardwood balls mounted on stainless steel rod. These seem to give the whole piece a sense of explosive energy and exuberance which really started to set the whole thing off.  Working backwards, we then had a good hunt around for birds with similar characteristics that we could use as inspiration and guidance. We quickly stumbled upon the Great Bustard, which has a very similar story to the Crane—one of disappearance from the UK hundreds of years ago and its current reintroduction using birds from overseas. This bird was perfect in many ways and it is great to be able to pay it tribute through our design. 

Description 

Our Baby Bustard is designed to be used as a desk or table lamp—the light shining out of the lower part of the wooden beak-shade. This is shade is fully adjustable and can be rotated through 90 degrees to shine the light wherever it is needed. The whole bird body can be rotated backwards and forwards by turning the mechanical brass handle mounted on its side, raising and lowering the head and tail giving endless combinations of posture, attitude and shape. The tail is also fully adjustable and easily rotated through 180 degrees. Because it is a highly visual and eye-catching piece we expect it to be used more as a self-lighting decorative object, producing all manner of beautiful light and shadow patterns on its surroundings. 

Specification 

Limited edition series of 100

80 cm tall x 33 cm wide

Weight 6 kg

Beak light has 90 degrees of rotation allowing different configurations.

Materials are hard-anodised aluminium structure, hand-carved oak wood shade, rough-cast concrete base, with brass, resin and stainless steel fittings

240V 50Hz mains powered, GU9 LED bulb.