The design of elegant pendant lamps has been further spiffed up with the help of 3D printing technology before – a few weeks ago, Decimal introduced its line of premium 3D printed shades for pendant lighting, and I’m a big fan of architect and designer David Münscher’s lovely 3D printed ION lampshades, made to cover pendant lamps.
As many other products in the world, Pantone’s color system was developed out of frustration. Its founder, Lawrence Herbert, knew that it was extremely difficult to print exact colors from single names – as someone who went to a college where the school colors are black and magenta, not black and pink, I concur. Herbert did not appreciate the poor quality of the color system at the time, and so the company changed up the way color itself was actually communicated. Pantone developed a numeric system that decreased how many variables there were in the printing process, so anyone in the world is able to reproduce a very specific color with a high level of accuracy.
Pantone and its color system have helped many designers match their intention with the correct color, print, and product, and will now work with Plumen to make lighting more colorful as well. Plumen has an origin story similar to Pantone’s, in that it realized efficient lighting was, as the company says, “a broken system of unimaginatively designed products.”
Just like Pantone reinvented the color-matching system, Plumen reinvented the relatively simple-looking light bulb, using eye-catching design and innovative technology, like 3D printing. The company believes that its work in lighting has “increased the adoption of a more efficient technology,” and is excited to be partnering up with Pantone.
Nik Roope, Plumen’s Creative Director and Co-Founder, said of Pantone, “We’re very proud to be working with a brand so well renowned, that was built by challenging and improving an age-old, broken system, bringing some well-honed colour into lives, as we bring in light.”
The six 3D printed Deneb pendants were designed by Pantone especially for Plumen’s WattNott bulbs, and are available on the Plumen website starting at $64.95 in the following unique colors:
- Black Beauty
- Brilliant White
- Pewter
- Cardinal
- Sargasso Sea
- Forest Biome
As Plumen puts it, “Pantone is bound to colour as Plumen are bound to light. And both are here to stay.”
Would you purchase one of these 3D printed pendant lights? Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.
[Images provided by Plumen]