Flaca stainless steel lamp is an exemplar of green design

As a founding member of Desk Lamp Fetishists Anonymous, it was with great interest (read cold sweats) that I learned about the stainless steel Flaca desk lamp by Mexico's Masiosare Studio. Yes, the stainless steel is sexy, and the 6 W power consumption - courtesy of twelve LEDs - ticks the green boxes, but most exciting is the fact that the Flaca comes as a flat piece of laser-cut steel that the user then bends into shape. We at the DLFA are nuts for flat-pack tool-less assembly, you see.

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Once out of the cardboard packaging, only four bends are required to complete the stand. The LEDs come with self-adhesive tape to "permanently" stick them to the stand. Post-bend, the Flaca has a footprint of 200 x 130 mm (7.9 x 5.1 inches) and stands 350 mm (13.8 in.) tall. It's built for a 110-120 V supply, drawing a current of 48 mA.

It's easy to be glib about environmentally friendly design, but this is the Flaca's real strength. Yes, LEDs are a low-energy light source, but in addition, the electronics aside, this is a lamp fashioned from a single material, meaning there's a simple supply chain and optimized manufacturing process. While stainless steel may not be the most sustainable choice, that consideration has to be offset against its durability. Add the long life-span of LEDs into the mix, and this is a lamp that, with care, should last a seriously long time.

If the quoted 50,000 hour LED lifespan is accurate (and that's a typical, perhaps even conservative figure often seen for LEDs), even if you turn the lamp on for eight hours a day, five days of the week, 48 weeks of the year, this is a lamp that will last 26 years. With more casual use, it could last a lifetime.

Further, the flatpack design optimizes shipping. The more boxes that can be loaded onto the truck, the fewer journeys have to be made.

If there is a fly in the ointment, it would appear to be availability. This is a non-mass produced item limited to bespoke design boutiques and museums in Mexico. The Flaca product page indicates that the product can be purchased online, but the store in question appears to be down at the time of writing. If we can track down a price, we'll let you know.

Source: Fast Co. Design.