There are plenty of creative book lights out there, but this fresh design takes it to a literal level which you can even replicate yourself.
A book lamp can always be helpful, allowing you to read without turning on a brighter source of light. However, now that the book lamp has already become optimized and commonplace, it’s seeing some amazing changes which focus more on its appearance rather than its utility. Grathio Labs took this literally and made a book light out of a book. The finished product blends in perfectly on a bookshelf, looks innocuous when it rests on your bedside table, and looks absolutely awesome when in use.
When the cover of the book is opened, the inside glows with what the designer claims is similar to the light from a 40W bulb. It can be stood up and left like that, facing whatever direction you prefer for the right amount of light, and it can even rest atop your nightstand, still open, to serve as more of an ambient lighting rather than direct. The original version required that it be plugged in, although the designer has updated with a way to make it run on batteries. Yes, you’re able to craft one of these yourself, which is good since I could imagine these selling for a pretty penny. Obviously, this isn’t a piece of cake to create, but if you’re a handy person familiar with many of the tools and techniques used, this might actually be second-nature to you.
The general design is taking the cover from a hardwood book, turning it into a sort of box by lining the edges with wood, running a strip of LEDs along the interior, and placing a panel of acrylic over it to serve as a diffuser. The end result, as you can see, is beautiful and the video below shows it off even better while also giving a (very fast) run-through of the do-it-yourself aspect.
If you’d prefer some different illumination, consider the NES Advantage Joystick Lamp or the more subtle USB Mario Mushroom Lamp.
