I guess I just don't get it. I'm really starting to question the design aesthetic over at AT. First, the strapbands chair, and now this?

Yeah, it's cute, but does it really illuminate anything, or just take up precious desk space? And if you knock it over, do hundreds of little sharp pins spill everywhere?

... and yowzah: $500???!!!

I'm in accord with the other commenters... perhaps if it was lit from the back or underneath, instead of just looking like a bulb stuck in a candle holder full of pins. I don't like the cord coming out of the top. Sloppy.

Surely I can make one for a few dollars? A box of pins, a bud vase from IKEA, a lamp socket with an LED bulb?

That's if I wanted one... in my opinion it just looks messy.

I agree with the general comments here. This seems a tad pointless for lighting and couldn't anyone stick a light bulb in a glass jar full of pins?

Though I did enjoyed some of her ceramic dishware designs.

I totally agree. Messy, not practical, ugly and too expensive.

dmstudio--

Just cuz AT is reporting on a style or item, doesn't mean they are "endorsing" i.

And I'd venture to guess that if this were posted as a DIY thing, people would be cooing and racing to replicate it, or throwing out all kinds of ideas on what they'd use in the jar instead of pins... glass marbles, river rocks, etc.

"it"... endorsing IT.

A bowl of hot pins. Yay.

P(too), how about giving the editor credit for being able to express skepticism if she's actually skeptical or neutrality if she's actually neutral. Danielle's enthusing over the designer's "pedigree" and stating that "we can see" it in readers' homes is surely a positive review, and I have to believe she has the writing skills to have intended that.

While I'm not planning on rushing out to buy this, I think it's sort of witty and cute. And I certainly wouldn't want AT to stop posting items that don't fit into a rigid design aesthetic... I like seeing things here that are a little 'off.'

wende--
You read a lot more "enthuse" into the write up but I see your point.

So I rephrase:

Just because ONE editor of AT positively posts an item, it does not mean it is receiving an "endorsement" of the product by all of AT's editorial and contributing staff.

Happy now? Jeez.

p(too) -- Yes, and that's why AT's mix of "green is the future" with energy-wasting products like this one is part of its rough-hewn charm.

Come to think of it, a version with glass marbles *would* be rather cool...

Um, how does the style of this light mean it any more or less energy efficient than any other?

If this offends one's greenism, I heartily suggest you stick a CFL in it.

If you're getting less light for the amount of energy going into the bulb (because of all the pins), it's less efficient.

P (too)
I disagree. By even posting it, it becomes an endorsement not to mention by adding "The pin light is something we can imagine on someone's craft table, or desk, as pictured above in Hill's photo studio". Sure sounds like and endorsement to me.

Perhaps it would be different if they posted it as "hot or not".

dmstudio--

AT has several individual editor/contributors who share differing opinions. So while this editor may have "endorsed it" I don't think it fair to say "endorsed by AT".

Plus, while the wording here may be tipping toward endorsement (I'll give you that) I don't think the mere posting of an item is an automatic endorsement. Sometimes it's just "here's what's new or unique out there, you be the judge."

Michael W.--
Doesn't that mean any lamp with a shade is "less efficient"? Are you espousing bare bulbs in every home for efficiency's sake?

And hey, the pins are no doubt recycled, keeping all those pesky pins out of landfills! ;)

Patrick, the answer to your question is yes, anything that blocks an amount of light produced from a bulb versus the energy going into producing said light is reducing the efficiency. And no, i'm not espousing anything--I was simply answering your question. A light bulb stuck in a small bowl of pins is probably not designed to be a lamp of any sort--more likely a conversation piece, or art (given the price tag), or an accent light--like the light I have made of a bulb stuck up a cored-out piece of quartz.

P(too) - First of all, I didn't say anything about endorsed by AT in my original post, those are your words not mine. My point was and still is that there have been a few designs as of late I find questionable in my opinion. I do believe I am allowed to post my opinion. After all, isn't that the point of all this? I'm not attacking any single individual as I have often seen on this site. At least that wasn't my intent. My apology is someone at AT thinks so.

Cate Blanchett does not equal cool to me.
Just sayin'.