The Lampster Story
A lamp with attitude
The Lampster - the coolest lamp ever, the most powerful desk lamp and the most funded in crowdfunding history! It's made out of old tractor headlights, has a custom painted body and is controlled by mobile or by touch!
The unique design combines multiple features that turn The Lampster in more than just a lamp. This is the perfect light companion!
Controlled by touch or controlled by your mobile device, you can do it both. You can use it as a reading light or you can adjust it to a certain color and certain color intensity. The App has multiple smart features like wake up alarm, sync to music, off timer and real time voltage, amperage and temperature reading along with a vintage and very cool design. It is available for both Android and iOS.
The 360° adjustable head rotation makes it extremely easy to use and adapt in any home or office space. The aluminum neck mechanism is set to keep the head in position at any angle.
The Lampster is quite a tall, strong guy! It measures 46 cm (18 inches) in height and can weigh up to 4.3 kg (9.5 pounds). We made him rubber pads for the feet so he won't slide or scratch your furniture.
The Lampster Story
The Lampster story started in 2011 when an idea of a vintage motorcycle/ tractor headlight lamp was beginning to emerge. Collecting old headlights from different motorcycles and farm equipment made the choice for the “head” easy. We started in a small garage where we kept the old findings by placing bulbs in different casings and started modifying them. Actually the first lamps were from the very first two headlights from the old tractor that was abandoned in our yard.
It started as a headlight lamp for the ceiling and from the simplest incandescent on/off bulb it slowly became a new concept. An old headlight lamp but with smart features. That was the plan.
We designed the body so the whole concept started to look like a small robot. The design of the body shows strengths and determination and the metal head matches in size perfectly. It is also made from recycled plastics. With the arrival of the body we had the idea to make it really customisable so we introduced a few styles that now define The Lampster: The Army (old rusty military color) and the more artistic Artsy design. Then we took the old headlight and we added a touch button for ease of access to on/ off and intensity of light. It was also important not to just look cool but also to be functionable so a 360° rotation mechanism was developed bearing that in mind. The head therefore can be turned in any position so it can be used for reading, mood light or just a plain lamp. An option for cold and warm light was added so it can be tuned endlessly to any setting desired by the user. The RGB function offers almost infinite combination of colors for your ambiance.
After we made the first prototypes we reached out to local stores to promote our lamp and as we started having the first orders we were met with customers requesting new colors and various combinations and so on. We were thrilled with the interest!
This project was more like a hobby for the first years as our regular jobs were the main focus. Because it was successful at a small scale we wanted to extend it so the crowdfunding was the best idea at that moment. We launched the Kickstarter campaign in December 2015 and The Lampster became the most funded LED gadget on Kickstarter!
From there on, a new chapter started and new accomplishments and challenges surfaced. As being for the first time to such a scale with a totally non commercial mass production item there were a lot of difficulties we faced. First, we had to secure every NOS headlight we could find. Some of the headlights were in terrible shape. We also began to search for the original molds for the headlights. We managed to find them and bought them. They are the same molds that started to be produced for the headlights 40 years ago. Everything that is used on the Lampster is custom made or developed especially for The Lampster.
In a single unit there are techniques of metal stamping, metal forging, aluminium injection, plastic injection, glass making, electrostatic painting, water based painting, rubber injection, leather stamping, electronics and led technology, wireless communication, hand painting and that is just to name a few of the production types used.
There are no off the shelf components and everything had to be designed and fabricated using mainly old metal working and hand making skills. From there we went through hell and back but didn’t want to compromise on materials and design even if at some point compromise might have moved things faster. Finally the product was ready and we began to deliver and the feedback is phenomenal!