The Lofi Lamp Story

The very first thing that Monish (Co-Founder) does when he walks into a room, is change the lighting. He’ll turn off the white lights, draw the curtains, and switch to softer, warm lights. Terrible for vitamin D levels. Great for setting a warm, cosy vibe.

Lighting is such a simple yet powerful way to transform a space and create a mood. Designing a lamp had been on our wishlist for years. So one day, in December of 2023, while we sat in our softly lit studio - listening to music and thinking of what came next - we decided it was time.

The idea had been marinating in our heads for years, so the design of the lamp came about pretty quickly. We got a 3D prototype printed right away. We were grinning like idiots for weeks every time we looked at the prototype! It looked good and we quickly got into figuring out the next steps to turn it into a final product.

We set out with the intent of using hemp plastic for the lamp. It’s not a readily available material, so we knew this wouldn’t be easy. After extensive research, we found a collaborator willing to make hemp plastic for us. We sourced the hemp hurds (the woody part of the stalk) from Rishikesh and sent them to Mysore, where the hemp composite was made.

For the dome, however, hemp plastic was not an option as it’s an opaque material. We looked into recycled plastic as an alternative. We tested various kinds, but none were right - they were either too grey, too opaque, or too soft to maintain shape, resulting in inconsistent surfaces on the inside that made the light look patchy. Eventually, we settled on using HDPE for now, but we hope that in the future we can switch to another recycled or bio-based plastic.

This was a year of trials - for both the product and our perseverance. Everything that could go wrong, did. Manufacturers didn’t want to work with a material they’d never come across. When we finally found one who agreed, he ruined all our sample material by running it at too high a temperature. It took another month just to get new samples.

Then there were errors in the moulds: the wrong logo was etched in, the dome’s mouth was too small and wobbled when placed on the pillar, the walls of the dome were too thin, and streaks formed on the pillar due to another issue. Machine breakdowns added to the chaos. The list of problems was endless.

Our visits to the factories became our road trips. Sometimes when we’d be low because of a failed trial, nature would surprise us with good weather on those drives, cheering us up. This year, we ended up talking more with vendors than with friends, waking up in the middle of the night stress-panicking over delays but also learning to deal with them.

We hoped the final production would be ready by May. Then June. July? August?? September??? At least by Diwali, right? Nope. Right until the very end, we didn’t know EXACTLY how the lamp was going to turn out. The final version, after countless trials, was completed in November - just AFTER Diwali. Talk about timing!

Despite everything, or rather because of everything, we’re so happy to have finally got here. What was once just a thought in our heads is now out in the world for everyone to see. Sitting here today in our softly lit studio - this time with our Lofi lamps - feels pretty damn good!

We hope you love the lamp as much as we do. And if you do, tell us! Hearing from you makes us unbelievably happy.

Until next time!
Riddhi (Co-Founder)