New Product Alert: Tala LED Lighting in London

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A group of friends at the University of Edinburgh came up with the idea for lighting company Tala while working a summer job together (they were installing solar panels on the roof of an eco-conscious winery in Portugal). One friend suggested that the architect specify LED lighting to add to the project’s eco-cred, but the architect balked due to a lack of good-looking options on the market. After a years-long exploration into production processes and lighting technology, the four founders launched Tala in 2015 with a line of Edison-inspired LED bulbs and the tagline, “Conservation through beauty.” Three years on, London-based Tala offers three distinct lines of designer LED bulbs, including a hand-blown stunner called Voronoi. Let’s take a look.

Photography courtesy of Tala.

tala led bulbs 2 — Above: Tala’s most artistic LED light on offer, the Voronoi collection of tinted, hand-blown glass bulbs, is modeled after the growth pattern found in forest canopies. “We created a 3-D model of the pattern, and smoothed its edges to simulate natural erosion over time,” the designers say, resulting in an irregularly shaped bulb that’s “carved by nature.” The Voronoi I bulb shown here is five inches wide by almost seven inches tall (£80), and shown with the Oak Knuckle Pendant (£100) and Oak Touch Lamp (£120), both made of FSC-certified American oak wood.

Tala’s LED bulbs last 15 times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb—15,000 to 30,000 hours on average—and use only 10 percent of the electricity.

tala led bulbs 3 — Above: Tala says its Voronoi III bulb, which is eight inches wide and 16 inches tall, is the “largest sculptural bulb ever made.” It’s shown here with the glossy Brass Pendant (£55), made of recycled brass in a brushed finish with a fabric-wrapped cord. The bulb costs £300, but the Voronoi III Bulb and Brass Pendant together cost £320.

Tala has made a commitment since its founding to plant 10 trees for every 200 light bulbs sold. So far, they’ve planted 35,000 trees in the UK and 15,000 in North America.

tala led bulbs 1 — Above: The Voronoi collection has a single spiral-shaped LED filament, designed to “mimic the Fibonacci sequence seen in pine cones and ferns.” The rounded, compact shape of the Voronoi I bulb refracts the light it emits, so the single filament appears more abstract than in the other Voronoi models; £80.

You can shop Tala bulbs and fixtures at their online Store, and the bulbs are available at various retailers across the UK and US (including Rejuvenation and It’s Thyme).