A toothy light
Released last year (after first being shown at the 2007 edition of the Milano Salone design show), the TU-BE pendant lamp is a collaboration between German lighting master Ingo Maurer and famed international designer, Ron Arad. Arad came up with the idea when working on designs for a toothpaste brand. TU-BE is made of 30 steel and plastic toothpaste tubes, two halogen bulbs and four LEDs, which reflect off the metallic finish of the suspended tubes. The playful creation is being distributed in Japan by Tokyo-based Studio NOI — they also carry the lights of Chihiro Tanaka, which On Design has covered in the past. It certainly doesn't come cheap, with a price of ¥294,000, but a piece like this is just as much a work of art as it is a light source.