The Edison bulb exposes a hunger for nostalgia
When Irene Conable moved from her 1927 historic home into a sleek condo last year, both in Riverside, Wash., she sought compatible accents for her mother’s 19th-century furnishings and antiques.
She looked to the hottest trend in home illumination, the Edison, for vintage or nostalgia globes. The bulb’s name is a nod to Thomas Alva Edison, considered the father of incandescent lighting.
Resurrected as reproductions of the inventor’s first bulb, Edisons now shimmer from coast to coast. Manufactured in hundreds of designs, the exposed bulbs are celebrated as hip throwbacks to more rustic times.
“I wanted to continue the modern version of Victoriana steampunk through the plumbing and lighting,” said Conable, 70, a retired school librarian. “That’s why I chose these bulbs.”
In the past three years, these improbable luminaries in the interior design world have jumped the grid from commercial to home decor, said David Gray, a spokesman for Lamps Plus, the largest specialty lighting retailer in the U.S.
Coiled, twisted, criss-crossed, laced, separated or bunched, the visible filaments — or threadlike heating elements made of tungsten or carbon — provide much of the bulb’s esthetic charm.
Movies such as Skyfall and the TV show Scandal have glamourized these unlikely beacons of beauty as soft, romantic sparkles in subway tunnels, hideouts, clandestine meeting rooms and attic crawl spaces, Gray said.
Janice Morell-Bielman used the Edison bulbs in her living room sconces and the dining room candelabra in her 1929 Tudor home in Riverside. “Great mood lighting,” she said. “Much better than traditional incandescents.”
The consumer’s fascination with industrial chic, inspired by pendant Edison bulbs in restaurants, has fuelled the craze, according to Dan Cocco, who worked with Conable. With Laurel Hampton-Hunt, he owns Carriage House Renovations, a 15-year-old Riverside-based business specializing in restoration work.
These old-timey versions of the real thing started becoming popular a few years ago, so they no longer must be specially ordered. Now, Cocco said, they’re ubiquitous, sold everywhere from the Internet to home improvement behemoths such as Home Depot and chic home furnishing chains.
Unlike their plainer incandescent cousins hidden behind shades or frosted glass, the new Edisons are not cheap, running $7 to $20 per bulb. But the price doesn’t deter homeowners such as Conable, who’s deployed them in floor lamps, table lamps, outside sconces and bathroom fixtures. “I love seeing that zigzag of light,” she said, referring to their tungsten filaments. “They’re great accents and they don’t put out a glare.”
The Edisons lend atmosphere because they’re not as bright as the standard incandescents. Casting a warm, buttery, amber glow, the 40- and 60-watt lights are discreet, fine for reading a menu, but not a book. These Edisons are seriously wasteful, however, guzzling five to 10 times the energy of other bulbs on the market, Cocco said. “That’s why they’re accent lights.”
But rather than pull the plug on what’s become a cultural icon, Gray said filament aficionados can get their vintage fix and fixtures with the new LED Edison bulbs that eat onetenth the energy of the classic bulbs, but cost about $6 more apiece.
“We’re playing catch up,” he said. “The Edison LEDs are just starting to come out. But they’re charming and have an extremely unique glow. It will probably take a few years before they exhibit the same appeal.”