A-Lamp Pendant Light | Blackjack Lighting

A-Lamp takes the most familiar shape in lighting, the pear-shaped household bulb, and turns it into a drawing. The outline is laser-etched inside a solid cylinder of cast acrylic just 2.5 inches across and 4 inches tall. Unlit, the cylinder is clear and the bulb is a faint ghost suspended in it; switched on, a small LED in the cap sends light down through the acrylic, every etched line catches it, and the bulb seems to be made of light itself.

It is a small object with a clear idea behind it. The filament bulb survives only as an image, while the real source is a 3-watt LED hidden in the socket cap, so nothing hot or bright is exposed. Hung alone it reads up close as a witty detail; hung in numbers at staggered heights it becomes a cloud of floating outlines. The cap comes in Matte Black for a sharp graphic accent, White for a softer gallery look, or Polished Chrome, which recalls the metal base of an old bulb.

Design notes

• Light drawn in acrylic: the etched A-lamp outline glows from within the light guide, a decorative, low-glare effect instead of a bare source.
• Small, repeatable scale: a 2.5 in (6.4 cm) by 4 in (10.2 cm) body under a 2 in (5.1 cm) cap, sized to be grouped.
• Concealed optics: the LED sits entirely in the cap and is replaceable, so the acrylic stays clear and uncluttered.
• Adjustable drop: a 96 in cable lets the pendant hang from 7 in to 102 in, so clusters can be composed in layers.
• Three cap finishes: Matte Black, White and Polished Chrome change the character from graphic to quiet to retro.

Specifications

Downloads

• A-Lamp specification sheet (PDF)
• Light Guide pendant installation instructions (PDF)
• Light Guide pendant LM-79 photometric report (PDF)
• Light Guide pendant IES file (ZIP)

Stephen Blackman and Blackjack Lighting

Blackjack Lighting is the studio of industrial designer Stephen Blackman, its President and Chief Design Officer. Trained in industrial design at Syracuse University, Blackman began his lighting career in 1984 at Sonneman Design Group, then founded Blackman Design Associates in 1988, designing decorative and architectural lighting for manufacturers including Kichler. He launched Blackjack in 2013 in suburban Chicago, now based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, to build fixtures conceived for LED from the first sketch.

His argument is that the LED should change the shape of a light, not just its efficiency. Rather than hiding a new source inside old bulb-and-shade forms, Blackjack designs around the small, flat, cool-running LED: thin discs, slim rods, glowing rings and lenses that let the light itself become the object. In his own words, "Decorative lighting by its nature is not primarily about optimizing lamp efficiency, it is primarily about decoration!" A-Lamp makes that point with a wink: the bulb it replaces survives only as a drawing of light inside clear acrylic.

Questions

What is the idea behind A-Lamp?

It keeps the image of the classic household bulb but not the bulb itself. The outline is etched into cast acrylic and lit from the cap by an LED, so the shape you recognise is drawn in light.

Who is behind Blackjack Lighting?

Industrial designer Stephen Blackman, President and Chief Design Officer, who has designed lighting since 1984 and founded Blackjack in 2013 to make fixtures shaped around the LED.

Matte Black, White or Polished Chrome?

The finish is on the socket cap and canopy. Matte Black gives the strongest contrast with the clear acrylic, White keeps the look soft and light, and Polished Chrome nods to the metal base of a vintage bulb.

How bright is it, and can it be dimmed?

Each pendant gives 133 lumens at 3000K with a 90 CRI, a decorative glow rather than task light. The driver in the canopy dims on TRIAC, ELV and 0-10V controls.

What warranty does it carry?

Three years on the integrated LED source and LED power supply, and one year on materials and workmanship, for the original buyer in the US and Canada.