Lighting to Love

This LED Bench (2002) by Ingo Maurer is installed in the first room of the Cooper Hewitt's exhibition, "Provoking Magic", featuring the esteemed lighting designer and artist. According to one site's (punctuationally-challenged) description, "this limited production table is a grand masterpiece by maurer. each bench is personally signed by ingo maurer. an extravagant table made of glass, 288 white internal leds that emit light on both sides. power conversion is provided by an external transformer. life span of the leds is an average of 100,000 hours (according to the manufacturer's specification)." All I can say is that the cool internal glow emanating from the glass is something fabulous, and it was a difficult piece to walk away from. The price for the privilege of unlimited seating time: approximately $24k. The rest of the exhibit (the whole second floor of the old Carnegie mansion on the Upper East Side) features installations like LED-equipped wedding costumes, maquettes for well-known designs, and some familiar works, like Lucellino lamps and MaMo Nouchies.