Ambio features bioluminescent bacteria to create a natural light
There are a plethora of steampunk designers out there that will do their best to outstrip the competition and make their products more steampunk than the rest. But it has taken Teresa van Dongen – a designer from Amsterdam – to make the most truly steampunk lamp.
The counterweight is swung like a pendulum
Why is this the most steampunk lamp around? There are a number of reasons. I agree, it doesn’t look very traditionally Victorian, but the main body of it is made out of COPPER. It gives the sleek design a colourful splash of interest that chrome or brushed steel would simply fail to replicate. The flat area has a glass tube that is filled with seawater. The seawater contains a bacteria that has been taken from the skin of an OCTOPUS and emits an ambient luminescent glow. However the bacteria don’t simply glow forever. Oxygen in the seawater is what gets it going it and if the water isn’t agitated then the oxygen begins to run out. So, in order to create a balanced glass tube, a counterbalance has been positioned opposite which you have to rock occasionally to agitate the water and get the bacteria glowing. The way you do this is by rocking it like a PENDULUM.
- Octopus
- Copper
- Clocks
It’s highly unlikely that van Dongen created this by intentionally using three key elements that features strongly in steampunk culture. It could be that she was spurred on by some elaborate cosmic design that led to her striving to create a natural product that is clean and looks good to us. Or it could be one massive coincidence. Either way, I think it looks lovely.
There’s no information on the design page as to whether the bacteria die if you maybe go to work and don’t constantly give the lamp a rock. The scientists helping van Dongen are currently working out how to prolong the lifespan of the bacteria which, at the moment, doesn’t seem to last more than a couple of days.
Is this the most steampunk lamp you’ve ever seen?
Filed under: Articles - Inventions, Articles - New talent, Articles - Steampunk Tagged: Algae, ambient light, Amsterdam, Art, bacteria, Bioluminescence, Design, Glass tube, H. G. Wells, Invention, Jules Verne, Light, Microorganism, octopus, Recreation, sci-fi, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Seawater, Steam engine, Steampunk, victorian, Victorian architecture, Victorian era, victorian science fiction, victoriana, Visual Arts
