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This beautiful lamp uses water to diffuse light

The brainchild of French designer Arturo Erbsman, the Atmos lamp eloquently uses water condensation and evaporation to diffuse light into the room.

Anthony Domanico
CNET freelancer Anthony Domanico is passionate about all kinds of gadgets and apps. When not making words for the Internet, he can be found watching Star Wars or "Doctor Who" for like the zillionth time. His other car is a Tardis.
Anthony Domanico
2 min read

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Atmos, a unique, beautiful lamp that uses condensation to diffuse light. Arturo Erbsman

I'm always impressed by products that work nature into their designs. That's why I was drawn to French designer Arturo Erbsman's Atmos lamp, which uses water's natural condensation and evaporation process to diffuse light into a room.

The Atmos has an aluminum base that houses the light source, and a handblown glass bulb that contains an inexhaustable water reserve. When you turn the lamp on, the water starts to evaporate, causing condensation to appear on the inner walls of the bulb, giving the Atmos light a beautiful, almost crystallized look. As the micro droplets on the inside of the bulb get bigger, the water drops back down into the water reserve.

Erbsman has been fascinated with water since he was a child drawing designs in the condensation on car windows -- something he tried to re-create with Atmos. Recent travels to the northernmost parts of Sweden and Finland gave Erbsman ideas on how to better understand and work with different elements of water, and on how different weather elements come into play.

You can't buy the Atmos for yourself just yet, however. Erbsman is currently working on a limited product run and will soon make a limited number of Atmos lamps available for purchase in his upcoming online store. If you happen to live in or be traveling to Milan, you can see the Atmos on display at La Rinascente.

Arturo Erbsman designed the Atmos as part of a series of projects that "reflect different points of intersection between manufactured objects and the four elements of nature." You can check out his other works, including a cumulus cloud lamp, a snow catcher lamp and a polar light on Erbsman's projects page.

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A close-up shot of water condensation on Atmos' glass bulb. Arturo Erbsman