Plumen 001 Exclusive US Debut at Hand-Eye Supply

Hand-Eye Supply is pleased to present the Plumen 001 by Hulger, the world’s first designer energy light bulb which recently launched in Europe, September 9, 2010. The bulb lasts 8 times longer than incandescent bulbs and uses 80% less energy.

Born out of frustration by the limited range of compact fluorescent bulbs on the market – there are thousands of manufactures but only three designs – Hulger’s Plumen 001 rethinks one of the twentieth centuries most significant inventions. Taking it’s name from ‘plume’ a bird’s decorative feather, designed to attract attention to its’ prowess and beauty, the Plumen bulb wants to be revealed, admired, and hopes to create wider appeal for traditionally mundane low energy light bulbs.

The Plumen 001 is the culmination of three year's of development effort by London-based company Hulger known for their retro-looking Skype phone handsets which debuted in 2005. Striving to soften technology with a poetic, human touch, Hulger calls into question the social, economical and technological drivers that push product development, and asks, how can a product not only be made more useable, but also more enjoyable.

Plumen sketches by Samuel Wilkinson.

 
Plumen 001 Ballast.

Hulger founders Nicholas Roope and Michael-George Hemus worked with industrial designer Samuel Wilkinson to develop the Plumen. Early prototypes were made with a neon sign artist as the properties of the glass tubing used in neon almost perfectly mirror the attributes of fluorescent tubing.

Quickly moving to CAD, they explored some twenty plus designs before settling on the final form. One of the toughest design challenges they faced was working with the phosphors which are applied as a liquid to the glass and need to run off to dry. Shapes that bent back on themselves prevented this from happening with an even finish, and would have required custom-built machinery that twisted the bulb in the air while it dried. Tinting the glass was also ruled out early because of strict regulations surrounding the luminosity and wattage, effectively a test for how much light a bulb omits.

The first Plumen bulb was added to the permanent collection at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York, and the second was featured at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Currently available in the UK and Europe, Hand-Eye Supply is proud to present the first Plumen Bulbs in the US, specially retrofitted to accept US electrical current.

The Plumen 001 at Hand-Eye Supply
Thursday, September 23rd, 5:30pm - 8pm
23 NW 4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon