Flexi Task Lamp | Blackjack Lighting

Most task lamps are built around a bulb and a shade. Flexi starts from the light itself. Its head is a flat 6-inch disc, half an inch thin, whose whole face glows; there is no cone, no visible lamp and no hot spot. Behind it, the frame is reduced to three pieces of line: a round base, a short upper arm and a longer lower arm, joined by pivots you can see and understand at a glance.

That clarity is the point. Because the light source is an integrated LED rather than a bulb, the head no longer needs depth or ventilation, so it can be drawn as a simple circle and turned in any direction. Folded low it reads as a quiet geometric sketch on the desk; opened to its full 24 inches it becomes a graphic silhouette of disc and diagonals. In Matte Black it is crisp and architectural; in White it almost disappears into a pale room, leaving only the glowing ring.

Design notes

• A face of light, not a bulb: the entire 6 in disc is the luminous surface, giving soft, even light that is comfortable to look past while you work.
• Visible mechanics: two jointed arms of 9.3 in and 14.3 in and a rotating head, so the lamp is posed rather than simply switched on.
• Proportion: a 7.9 in base only half an inch high anchors the composition without bulk.
• Quality of light: 480 lumens at 3000K with a 90 CRI, so wood, paper, fabric and skin read true.
• Three settings: brightness steps are built into the lamp, from full task light to a low evening glow.

Specifications

Downloads

• Flexi specification sheet (PDF)
• Flexi instruction sheet (PDF)

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!" Flexi shows that thinking at desk scale: a working lamp reduced to a circle of light and three clean lines.

Questions

What makes Flexi different from a typical desk lamp?

The light comes from the whole face of a thin 6-inch disc rather than from a bulb under a shade. That gives an even, low-glare glow and lets the head stay slim enough to read as a simple circle.

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 LED-native fixtures.

Matte Black or White?

Matte Black draws the frame as a bold graphic line against light walls and timber desks. White recedes into bright, minimal rooms so the glowing disc becomes the main event.

How is the light controlled?

Three brightness levels are built into the lamp; it plugs into a standard outlet and needs no wall dimmer.

What warranty does it carry?

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