Lamps are our age-old buddies, and in fact we have come across many in a variety of shapes and odd structures while some being re-purposed from scrap materials. What we have here is again different and is altogether a new approach in lamp shade design.

Designers from Apokalyps Labotek have come up with the novel idea of growing lamp shades through a crystallization process,  which simply involves a salt solution and a bucket. The shimmering material that you see above is nothing but crystals of mineral salt [bound together] acting as a lamp shade! The mineral salt used for this lamp is a byproduct from a chemical industry which is harmless enough to be used as compost and even consumption. The seemingly floating lamp is called the Crystal which definitely takes the cake with its easy manufacturing process, that does not involve electricity or labor and has the ability to biodegrade.

The Crystal has been created to bring forward an alternative method of manufacturing shiny objects as opposed to traditional methods. The purpose is to highlight the lives of Chinese stone-cutters who on an average have a life expectancy of 35 years since most of them suffer from silicosis due to poor factory practices.

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