Luminous 6-Foot HB Lamp Rewrites the Humble Pencil

There’s hardly any object more recognizable than the humble HB pencil, and now a London-based studio has rewritten its function with this wonderful lamp.

Created by husband and wife team Michael & George, who take a ‘fun and whimsical’ approach to both life and work, the six-foot HB lamp is handmade with high quality materials that stay fairly true to the original wooden pencil’s material palette. A work of impeccable craftsmanship and ingenuity, HB lamp will soon scribble its debut at Tent London during this year’s London Design Festival.

Michael & George aim to attract attention and a smile with their work, they said in a recent press release, which matches up their overall lighthearted life philosophy. They add, “This is evident in our debut series ‘Stationery Objects’ where we have re-imagined familiar office items and elevated them to striking design pieces.” They definitely hit the striking mark with this giant, larger-than-life, bright yellow pencil, and they manage to do so without falling into the kitsch pit.

The HB Lamp really does look like an especially enormous pencil thanks to its hand-turned wood body, hand-spun brass, hand-blown glass, and rubber tip. 33 feet (10 meters) of lead-colored cable emerging from the pencil tip allows users to scrawl throughout a room, and the light exudes from the opposite end of the pencil where the eraser would be. And while the design is purposefully playful, Michael & George do mean for it to be a source of inspiration as well.

They say, “our hope is to inspire light bulb moments within everyone who comes in to contact with the ‘HB Lamp’ (just as the traditional HB pencil has been the conduit to so many light bulb moments throughout history.)”