Sculptor Dylan Kehde Roelofs has created a range of functioning incandescent light-bulbs made of hand-blown glass.

Describing them as the “restoration of dialogue between filament and bulb,” Roelofs created the lights partly as a reaction against the soulless glow of low-energy bulbs.

The filament can be replaced when burnt out and the bulb re-sealed.

Here is some info from Roelofs:

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These works represent a singular new topography, situated between the familiar clichés and tropes of lighting design, scientific glassblowing and sculpture.

They herald the creation of the poetics of the filament: the delicate interplay of the incandescent arc with chimerical vacuum envelopes of Modernist and Surrealist paradigms. Each is a piece of lighting history, evocative in colour of candles and candelas past, and of a paradigm shift in the quality of light.

They are, additionally, for a nominal fee, after burnout, re-fillable, capable of being rewired and hermetically re-sealed.

Each is unique, hand blown by Dylan Kehde Rolofs, whose glassworks have graced the Burning Man and reside in collections and institutions worldwide.

Technical details:

Life span: The emphasis of these art objects is on their sculptural form and lighting quality, not quantity. If you are content with the wan, soulless light provided by compact fluorescence, read no further.

This being said, the filament temperature is slightly lower than that of bulbs rated for 25,000 hours, and about the same as other famously long-lived bulbs. The filament thickness is at least 10 times that of a standard 2000-hour bulb. The initial inrush of current from being switched on, and vibration are the worst enemies of these sculptural filaments, since the rate of evaporation is several orders of magnitude lower that a standard bulb. Test bulbs approaching 2500 hours of age are not even beginning to show signs of darkening from this evaporation.

Approximate wattage: Each bulb draws about 1 amp at either 12v or 24v, thus about 12 or 24 watts.

The envelope is baked out under vacuum at 400 Centigrade for 1 hour before tip-off.

The filaments are fully replaceable, once, upon return of the lamp, ideally in the original packaging, for the cost of shipping and handling. Additional filament replacement is available for a nominal fee.