> Fun fact: “Akari” means light in Japanese, both as illumination and as lightness.
Wow! I love it when two languages have matching homonyms. I always wonder "what does it mean ?". Like, in English "second" to mean the unit of time and the place after "first" feels like two distinct usages. But it's the same in Spanish ("segundo"), which points to a deeper connection (and isn't so unsurprising given the shared roots of the languages): the unit of time is called that because it's the second subdivision of an hour.
The two usages of "light" in English are so distinct I'm quite surprised it's like this in the entirely unrelated Japanese language. Is this just a big coincidence, or does anyone know any deeper reasons here?
The first example is not really a coincidence: a second is defined by being the second subvision of an hour.
So that example fails to support any reason for akari matching light in English. But for the sake of argument here is another one: じゃり (giari, read as "ja-ri") in Japanese means gravel and in my dialect almost the same sound (giarin, "ja-ri-n") also mean gravel. Go figure.
That was exactly my intended point (and my comment does mention the hour subdivision). There are a lot of meaningless coincidental homonyms, but these tend to not be homonyms in other languages. E.g. I dunno "left" in English would be "izquierda" or "dejó". Or conversely, "vino" in Spanish would be "wine" or "came". The fact that "second" and "segundo" have homonyms in their respective languages is a clue that the unit of time and the ordinal word are the same is not a coincidence. And when you look into it it's for the reason that you state. The homonym pairs indicates an etymological relationship between the two concepts.
So I was wondering if the same applied here. My initial reaction is that "light" meaning "illuminated" and "light" meaning "not heavy" is that this is just one of those coincidences, since I can't see how that one word relates the two concepts. But given that Japanese also does the same, it makes me wonder if maybe there is some sort of relationship. Maybe it was a common belief historically that the sun was not very heavy or something like that. Or maybe not and it's just a rare double coincidence!
I'll note that many of the glass blocks they use are available all over, for a few dollars. I bought a few Doric glass blocks, stuck some diffused LED strips below them, and printed a stand/enclosure, all for under $15. Good gift for friends.
I share the author's love for nice lamps. A lamp is an object to enjoy every day, which doesn't require any time investment from us. It is just there, with one simple function: to look pleasing.
Love the pics. Moved into a place in the 90's. Insurance agent told me, easiest way to liven up a cheap apt was to get good lighting. He was right, but I was too lazy to shop much. Only found one lamp that I really like.
It's an Ikea Torchère: kinda old now, just halogen, but I've always kept a spare "bulb" for it somewhere - replaced it every 10-20 years. I still like the weird pattern on the ceiling. :P
One lamp featured was a "mini Tizio". I bought the full-size one many, many years ago. (E.g. uses a Halogen bulb.) This article prompted me to think... So I just Goolged it. My vintage Tizio is now selling for about $1,200. (Cannot remember what I spent, but very likely my <$150 filter kicked in when buying.) So if you like these lights, maybe consider the cost an investment. If after a few decades you may want to sell, and you might do well. Note: My Tizio is not for sale as it is a superb desk lamp.
Alas, a good-condition Tizio usually sells for around $200-$350 used, depending on the exact model. First-generation models may go a little higher, like $500-$600. I bought mine a couple of years ago for about €250.
If you browse sites like 1stdibs or Pamono, you're going to see dramatically inflated prices, but I don't see why anyone would ever buy there. Ebay, Selency, Vntg, etc. are more likely to sell at actual market prices.
Remember a saying of 5 individual light sources in each room as a rule of interior design. Very wholesome read, made me smile and look at my own lamps.
Really loved the lamps featured here. I'm jealous of the whole setup, including the Vitsoe shelving. Saving this for inspiration when I need to revamp my home setup. Thanks for sharing!
I love love love my vintage table lamps, they're "Peill Puztler" ice cube lamps I think. They were typically sold back in the days with mirror head bulbs: I know because I was there, as a kid, and my mom (RIP) had those in her apartment. And now I've got them at my place.
And because I hate to have only LED lighting, I stick good old (but brand new) incandescent bulbs in my "ice cube" lamps: such bulbs go by many names and can still be found (they're either for ovens [where they can sustain insane heat], for warming terrariums, for heating lava lamps, etc.).
Just having one or two incandescent bulb in the living room, in addition to LEDs, works wonder to give a cozy ambiance.
I'd say it's a bit sad to have lamps from the 70s but then stick cold LED bulbs into them (and, yes, even "warm" LEDs do feel incredibly cold): put incandescent bulbs and experience them at they were meant to be (once again: no need to replace the entire house with incandescent bulbs, just two or three here and there shall work wonder).
I fantasized about the possibilities of decorating a place, when said decorations do not need to be proofed against wanton destruction by young children
How does it fare with modern LED bulbs? I imagine the placement of the reflectors assumes an almost-point source of light like a filament would provide, but most LED bulbs now have a plane of LEDs inside a frosted shell.
I guess would it make a noticeable difference to put an LED faux filament bulb in here? Or is it just not as fussy as I'm imagining?
Had to look it up. The cable coming out of the middle section is unfortunate. I get it's supposed to be vaguely anthropomorphic so that's like a tail or something but... come on.
Excellent collection, compliments to the chef!
One of my recent favourites - Le Soleil by Foscarini - https://www.foscarini.com/en/product/le-soleil-std-s-en/
It's wonderfully asymmetrical without overdoing it, with every layer suspended and swaying independently when prodded. Exceptional light distribution.
Unrelated aside, but:
> Fun fact: “Akari” means light in Japanese, both as illumination and as lightness.
Wow! I love it when two languages have matching homonyms. I always wonder "what does it mean ?". Like, in English "second" to mean the unit of time and the place after "first" feels like two distinct usages. But it's the same in Spanish ("segundo"), which points to a deeper connection (and isn't so unsurprising given the shared roots of the languages): the unit of time is called that because it's the second subdivision of an hour.
The two usages of "light" in English are so distinct I'm quite surprised it's like this in the entirely unrelated Japanese language. Is this just a big coincidence, or does anyone know any deeper reasons here?
The first example is not really a coincidence: a second is defined by being the second subvision of an hour.
So that example fails to support any reason for akari matching light in English. But for the sake of argument here is another one: じゃり (giari, read as "ja-ri") in Japanese means gravel and in my dialect almost the same sound (giarin, "ja-ri-n") also mean gravel. Go figure.
That was exactly my intended point (and my comment does mention the hour subdivision). There are a lot of meaningless coincidental homonyms, but these tend to not be homonyms in other languages. E.g. I dunno "left" in English would be "izquierda" or "dejó". Or conversely, "vino" in Spanish would be "wine" or "came". The fact that "second" and "segundo" have homonyms in their respective languages is a clue that the unit of time and the ordinal word are the same is not a coincidence. And when you look into it it's for the reason that you state. The homonym pairs indicates an etymological relationship between the two concepts.
So I was wondering if the same applied here. My initial reaction is that "light" meaning "illuminated" and "light" meaning "not heavy" is that this is just one of those coincidences, since I can't see how that one word relates the two concepts. But given that Japanese also does the same, it makes me wonder if maybe there is some sort of relationship. Maybe it was a common belief historically that the sun was not very heavy or something like that. Or maybe not and it's just a rare double coincidence!
I love iconic minimal lamps too. I never saw the Lampe de Bureau nor the Kismas Lamp 01, love them! You might like the Muuto Post.
I'll note that many of the glass blocks they use are available all over, for a few dollars. I bought a few Doric glass blocks, stuck some diffused LED strips below them, and printed a stand/enclosure, all for under $15. Good gift for friends.
All I can think about is the 20m it would take to walk around the house and turn all of them off every time I wanted to leave the house.
phillips hue
Bah... how pedestrian. Wago or bust!
Yeap! All of them are Phillips Hue bulbs and switches.
What a beautiful home. I love the office and desk setup specifically. The lamps are cool too.
He has a writeup about the office and desk setup too: https://arslan.io/2025/11/18/my-two-part-desk-setup/
I'd love to have enough space to have a desk facing the room rather than the wall :(
Me too! I briefly worked in a home office with the similar layout to the link above. Made such a massive difference in mood while working.
I share the author's love for nice lamps. A lamp is an object to enjoy every day, which doesn't require any time investment from us. It is just there, with one simple function: to look pleasing.
Love the pics. Moved into a place in the 90's. Insurance agent told me, easiest way to liven up a cheap apt was to get good lighting. He was right, but I was too lazy to shop much. Only found one lamp that I really like.
It's an Ikea Torchère: kinda old now, just halogen, but I've always kept a spare "bulb" for it somewhere - replaced it every 10-20 years. I still like the weird pattern on the ceiling. :P
One lamp featured was a "mini Tizio". I bought the full-size one many, many years ago. (E.g. uses a Halogen bulb.) This article prompted me to think... So I just Goolged it. My vintage Tizio is now selling for about $1,200. (Cannot remember what I spent, but very likely my <$150 filter kicked in when buying.) So if you like these lights, maybe consider the cost an investment. If after a few decades you may want to sell, and you might do well. Note: My Tizio is not for sale as it is a superb desk lamp.
Alas, a good-condition Tizio usually sells for around $200-$350 used, depending on the exact model. First-generation models may go a little higher, like $500-$600. I bought mine a couple of years ago for about €250.
If you browse sites like 1stdibs or Pamono, you're going to see dramatically inflated prices, but I don't see why anyone would ever buy there. Ebay, Selency, Vntg, etc. are more likely to sell at actual market prices.
This is great. Lighting I think is the best thing to spend money on as it isn't exposed to wear and tear like furniture.
In addition to these also a huge fan of Anglepoise desk lamps, Lotte lamps and Mantis sconces.
Are we talking second hand value or re-sell potential?
Remember a saying of 5 individual light sources in each room as a rule of interior design. Very wholesome read, made me smile and look at my own lamps.
Brought me joy as Kondo would have said
Thanks for the $$ I'm about to spend :heart: :sob:
I enjoyed the article, but I got a real kick out of how the author formats the date into the URL
Yay or nay? I can change it :)
I like it. Though I was rather hoping that /2026/10 would go to an index of posts from this month.
Really loved the lamps featured here. I'm jealous of the whole setup, including the Vitsoe shelving. Saving this for inspiration when I need to revamp my home setup. Thanks for sharing!
beautiful home and photos! makes me realize some people are just way cleaner than me :D
I love love love my vintage table lamps, they're "Peill Puztler" ice cube lamps I think. They were typically sold back in the days with mirror head bulbs: I know because I was there, as a kid, and my mom (RIP) had those in her apartment. And now I've got them at my place.
And because I hate to have only LED lighting, I stick good old (but brand new) incandescent bulbs in my "ice cube" lamps: such bulbs go by many names and can still be found (they're either for ovens [where they can sustain insane heat], for warming terrariums, for heating lava lamps, etc.).
Just having one or two incandescent bulb in the living room, in addition to LEDs, works wonder to give a cozy ambiance.
I'd say it's a bit sad to have lamps from the 70s but then stick cold LED bulbs into them (and, yes, even "warm" LEDs do feel incredibly cold): put incandescent bulbs and experience them at they were meant to be (once again: no need to replace the entire house with incandescent bulbs, just two or three here and there shall work wonder).
I couldn’t differentiate one of these designer lamps from an ikea lamp. They look almost the same.
Yes, Ikea copies iconic designer lamps often very closely. I thinks its great, but also love to have some select pieces as functional art.
Better update that bio! It's SpaseXSI now.
beautiful pieces <3 i inherited a big Poulson and I love it
Give .webp or .avif some live my friend!
Am I the only one who fantasized about the whole place more than the lamps?
I fantasized about the possibilities of decorating a place, when said decorations do not need to be proofed against wanton destruction by young children
Have two kids, 7 and 10 years old. It’s ok if they grow with it!
Yeah, heheh, plus I think you're just getting to the fun part.
For me, it's a little too 50 shades of brown. I love the warm tones and clean lines, but it's all warm tones and clean lines.
I'm in the middle of moving things around my home and dealing with cords, so the lamp cords are what I focused on.
It's a beautiful space though. He did a great job of cord management on his desk.
No because you likely do not drench yourself in hubris daily.
The arrogance of people still inventing new lamps after the Ikea KRUX lamp is astounding
This PH5 lamp was invented in the 1950s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Henningsen
I'm not sure why anyone even tried to invent a new pendant light after the PH5. ;)
It is a great design.
I found it when looking for a lamp that doesn't expose the bulb itself, which is exactly what it was designed for.
How does it fare with modern LED bulbs? I imagine the placement of the reflectors assumes an almost-point source of light like a filament would provide, but most LED bulbs now have a plane of LEDs inside a frosted shell.
I guess would it make a noticeable difference to put an LED faux filament bulb in here? Or is it just not as fussy as I'm imagining?
I use a frosted LED bulb and don't see any reason it would work better with an incandescent bulb, i.e. it works great.
Looks like a dog
Had to look it up. The cable coming out of the middle section is unfortunate. I get it's supposed to be vaguely anthropomorphic so that's like a tail or something but... come on.
LMFAO it's cute!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Ikea+KRUX&ia=images&iax=images
lol. https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/krux-led-work-lamp-white-503254...
I deeply regret not buying another suitcase to import a Tolomeo from Germany to the USA a year ago.
I have a $2.94 USB silicone lamp shaped like a duck. To each their own.
Picture myself a room of complete darkness, the lonely duck.
My 5-year-old sleeps with a silicon dog lamp.