Nice: Shanghai-based designer Zhili Liu's lighting series was inspired by gatherings of birds, which becomes obvious when you see them. Up above are models entitled Sparrow, Nightingale and Dove, respectively. (We especially like the "bird in a cage" design of the Nightingale.) The designer came up with the concept circa 2006 and is now getting into the prototyping.

Cheap bakelite bulb sockets have been widely used in China, from workshops to living rooms for over 4 decades without any change. With a bulb and some wire, it makes a practical and reliable pendant lamp for less than 10 RMB (about 75 pence).

The bird lamps were designed to inherit the simplicity of the bakelite sockets but at the same time offer the user some more room for imagination - only by adding a little angle.

The sockets [are] made of bone china, which is translucent, heat proof and electrically safe. [It will] work with incandescent, CFLs or LED bulbs with a standard E-27 base.

via dezeen