I am stumped and hope you can help me out.
I have (what I think is) the most wonderful bedside lamp ever, a plastic elephant lamp I got from Chiasso many, many years ago. It's the perfect lamp for bedside reading, and emits a nice, friendly warm glow. Sadly, after ten or so years of loyal bedside service, it's starting to show its age..... (more below)
It lost its head a while back when the cat knocked it on the floor (the head is now held on with some packing tape), and its back is starting to develop a burn mark and small crack from all those years of lightbulb warmness. Chiasso no longer sells them, and the lamp bears absolutely no markings whatsoever to identify the maker. I know the maker also had several other animal styles, including a giraffe and a bear; they come packed flat and you just fold them up into these nice 3-D little lamps. Do you have any idea if these are still being made? My internet and ebay searches have come up empty. Help!
Thanks! ~dana
Dear Dana,
With all the confidence in the world that our readers will find you a new elephant, we respectfully throw this out to the crowd. Crowd?
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
How Babar!
I see that and think museum shop...
kids section at the Brooklyn Museum
or the Museum of Natural History on the UWS . . .
or maybe a museum in Paris, or Amsterdam.
This might require travel!
It also looks simple enough to have an artist fabricate you a new one from the template of your old one . . . if you are absolutely married to having the same light for the rest of your life...
And if all fails,
the Noguchi-ish paper lights at Ikea will give you that same kind of nice soft light . . . click my name for link.
...and use a compact flourescent bulb in the next one - same warm light, far less heat.
I have this light shade
http://www.conran.com/conranshopping/showMoreInfo.do?productid=10004&print=true
that was flat packed and have replaced a piece that got burnt by buying the same grade plastic from a plastics store in Chinatown and cutting it to the same shape.
Get a sheet of plastic, take your lamp apart, trace around the pieces, cut with good scissors, puch out the eyes with an awl, and reassemble.
The kind of plastic that these lamps are made of is very easy to cut but making a good round hole is more difficult. An awl will make a small hole so maybe someone else has an idea on how to make a neat half inch hole in plastic.
Dana,
I think this would be pretty easy to recreate if you can't find it. actually i'd like to try it myself, if you decide to make your own can you send me the templates :)
Or if you send me the templates I'd be happy to send you an extra one-well assuming i'm successful!
Definitley doable yourself.
Minh, how would you cut out the eyes?
Thanks for all the advice everyone... I have been mulling over the idea of trying to fabricate one, but wasn't sure how to handle the "folds." They aren't exactly scored, they are just pressed in a way so that you can fold it easily and get nice, rounded shapes.
I have been using a compact flourescent bulb, but I've still got that little burn mark/crack forming. Poor elephant!
~dana
jamie pup-
how about a paper-punch? i've seen ones with a longer reach (to get further into the paper than the normal inch or so) at arts and craft stores.
Ah yes, a paper punch. That would work.
Unfortunately I'm more at home in a hardware store than in an arts and crafts store so all I could think of were construction tools.
WRT the hole question: if the hole isn't exactly paper-punch size, you can buy steel punches and a mallet from a hardware store. Or, if you use a regular drill, and just sandwich the plastic between some wood (or even fabric or plastic) to keep it from warping, you'll get a nice clean hole.
It looks like thin polypropylene sheet (it's very flexible when thin) would work nicely for this.
Doh, now I feel like a dope.
Thanks Abby - I like the drill idea and could have used that one myself with the light above. One of the internal pieces needed vent holes and although you won't see them I would have prefered clean holes with no jagged edges.
Like your website BTW.
found a similar elephant lamp here:
http://www.multi4m.com/
dana, yours looks different tho, nicer. and abby, you're right. the above site says polypropylene, 0.8mm thick.
Is there any way you could possibly take some more pictures of the lamp? My friend would LOVE this for christmas and I love to tinker with this type of thing. I'd love shots from all angles (front, back, both sides, top, and bottom). I'm really interested in where the bulb sits inside the "shade" portion and how its attached. I've got some ideas on how to start this little project. Please email me if you happen to take more more pics :) Thanks!
If anyone has any ideas on this please email me at redrob2@gmail.com
would love to have the tracings uploaded so one can download it and make own elephant lamp
*hint* *hint*
hi there,
i have the exact same lamp! i was doing a search so i can post it on ebay....hence this page came up.
i'm willing to part with it for $15 and you pay for shipping?!
i used it in my son's nursery.....he's 6 now ;)
and has been stored since.
it's in great condition!! i'll send photos if interested.
let me know
karina pesta
kpesta@pacbell.net
Hey there....
About this Elephant,I was browsing and came accross your email.
Let me tell you this: I'm flatered ! I'm the designer and the manufacturer of the Elephant lamp and I started to distribute this item in 1995 from Denmark,Chiasso were the only distributors in USA that made a little order throue my vendors in Europe. Now I'm in USA and we starting to sale those Elephant lamps ....in a bit,we are just weeks away from getting all those UL and Standards documents,watch for our Elephant Lamp in a newly designed package (not as the old one which has Italian all over it--were I manufactured it first)
you can also log on directly to our website for more of such innovative designs
www.multi4m.com