How stupid is that? $600 for two 2x4s with a light fixture shoved inbetween???!!! What idiot would pay that kind of money for something they could make themselves with a tablesaw. In fact, you could buy every tool and piece of material required to make one of those for far less than $600. Plus it's ugly.

Totally agree. For $50 I could see it selling fairly well, but at $600 it's just another overpriced piece of crap.

Besides, it's probably a fire hazard.

Something you'd see in an annoying trendy club or annoying trendy coffee house.

Keyword here is annoyingly.

you said wood.

Seriously. At least plane and joint the wood before making a light out of it. You could have someone else mill the whole damned thing for less than $600.

I want to try try selling knock-off light on Ebay. Can you copyright a 2x4?

But dont you see it's "art" and "art" is expensive. People with too much money understand that.
Art could be piss in a cup if marketed correctly.

I agree. You don't see people using raw 2x4s in their decorating, do you? So, what makes sticking a light inside one do to make it more appealing?

You've still got a damn ugly 2x4 hanging on your wall.

please, please fix your sandbox link.
here's the actual link for everyone:
http://www.sndbx.com/2x4.html

it took me to microsoft.com when i clicked on the one up top.

Having seen the thing on the sandbox link (thanks mcrsft fan . . .

. . . I stand by my previous statement.

Ugly piece of overpriced crap.

Argle Bargle! Stupid artist! My 5 year old could have milled that for less than $10! Buy my piss!

How energy-efficient is this light? T-8 or T-5 fluorescent, or some hot-burning, planet-wasting halogen?

it took me a long time to make this and you're all just pissed you didn't think of it first. how about i take this 2x4 off the wall a crack all you fools upside the skull?

I didn't realize just how funny this site is. Could use a few more good laughs. Thanks!

absolutely ugly and useless. plus there's a knothole in it.

I like the piss in a cup idea but I'm working on hollowing out a big ol hunk of glass and then curving it a little. I'm thinking that I'll put a nice wood ring around it as a base so it could mount upside down on the ceiling. Maybe sandblast a nice floral design in it. Anybody want one? $250

Actually the piss-in-a-cup thing was done a year or so ago in New York. Apparently they had a crucifix, I believe, in a jar of human piss. Apparently that was some sort of artistic statement. I wonder if that jar had a light behind it........

Thanks for the comments!

1
Fixed the link. Not a big Microsoft fan, it did that automatically since I had mistakenly put "http://http://...". Wierd, huh? I'm using Firefox and Movable Type so I don't see the connection with Microsoft. Anyone?

2
Regarding the cost for this lamp: it's important to remember basic costing rules for retail products. Typically you make something for x, wholesale it
for 2x and they retail it for 4-6x. In other words, the lamp had to be made for $100-150 for materials, labor, overhead etc..Some of the bigger retailers might even shoot for 4x the wholesale cost e.g. an ashtray wholesaling for $5 would retail for $20. In that example it may have cost
$2.50-$4.00 to make the product and you get to buy it for $20.

A starting designer also can't afford large volume production and therefore can't go offshore so is stuck paying high labor, material,etc costs. For these reasons, it's not surprising to see early versions of small-run products made in the USA being quite expensive. Once a market is proven, the volume can be upped and cheaper labour can be sourced, the pricing can come way down. This process is often supported by the richer people buying these early runs. Going offshore brings up ethical/environmental aspects of course...

If some of you still think the pricing is way too high (and it may well be) and do want to make some $, I would propose contacting him and seeing if you can get a contract making them for $100-150.

best,
Graham

i want to put them all over my walls.. an order for 2000 plz

There's NOOOOO way, it costs $100 - $150 a piece to make those things. Unless the government's contracting the labor.

What is the labor being paid, $100 per hour?

And where is the overhead? Are they renting out the Kennedy Center to product these things?

And it's still ugly, and doesn't make much of a statement. Just another piece of pretentious, so-called, "art."

Yes retail is a higher than cost of production, but there's no wholesale/retail involved here. The "lamps" are being sold directly to the public by the creator. Don't try and feed me that whole "middle-man" crap.

Damn.

You folks are brutal. I suspect it's a lot of work to make one of these. It looks to be one (1) 2x4 hollowed out (and god only knows how thin you have to make it to get light to shine through it), or possibly sawn in half, hollowed out, and rejoined.

But aesthetically, I think it's darn purty. Every one is different, and the variation on each piece from grain, knotholes, wood density are all pretty damn neato.

Sure, $600 is too freakin' expensive, so let me know when one of you folks makes something as good (or better) for $150. Kay? Kay.

David Roughs

I want to know how many watts, and how much light energy is wasted, mr. "treehugger"

Apparently, M$ owns the "http" top-level domain. If you just put "http" in your URL, it redirects to their website.

While the color is entertaining.. Whoop-di-doo!! Who in the hell would want a fixture hanging on their wall that makes their house look like it was still under construction. The idea with the wood has merit, but the design lacks any design sense and in my personal opinion, it sucks! The only place you should put this is in a bachelor pad, right next to the cable spool coffee table and the empty keg! Otherwise, just cover it with sheetrock and at least your house won't look like crap!

I will say this however, if this guy is getting 600.00 for these, and they are selling. More power to him.

I have to agree with that. If there's some idiot out there that is willing to pay $600 (or any ammount of money for that matter) for one of these, than kudos to the designer.

There's no accounting for taste.

Jjjens,
you've got a good point on energy being wasted. the lamp
is certainly not particularly treehugger.

Joe Blow,

The lamp is being sold at Future Perfect. Therefore, they
are the middleman. The designer is wholesaling them
to Future Perfect and Future Perfect is retailing them to
the public. No crap-feeding going on.

I agree that it still sounds high but also, having developed
some products myself, I know how costs seem to come
out of nowhere and you are always surprised at what you
end up with.

And, I think one of the major problems in looking at
pricing is that we are so accustomed to the pricing from
mass-produced, offshore goods that our frame of reference
is tainted.

In any case, a good discussion has ensued from a silly 2x4 which I think is great.

Thanks for your comments.
Graham

How stupid can a stupid person be? The first posts are absurd... A BMW, an Audi or a Ferrari cost the sum of their parts? Or the design is charged? Go learn something more than what Bush teaches you in your stupid schools and come back for a post... Oh, sorry, i forgot you still learn we are all created equally, by god, from mud... Ok, than this thoughs are fine for a mud man...

Right,

Grahm:

Well, I got the impression from the website that they were marketing the thing themselves. So great, there is a middle man. I can see your point of costs of production comming out of no where though.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if they're going to charge $600 for something that is not made from high-end materials or have any kind of obvious intensive manufacturing requirements — which it certainly doesn't appear to be — then they need to do a better job of justifying the price. (e.g. What is the process involved in making it?) I need to know WHY it costs so much and not just your average "cost of production" answer, because this ISN'T your average product, it's a market niche product. To reach that niche, you have to make people feel that the product is worth the price and, so far, I'm not convinced.

Ingo:

Comparing a lamp made out of 2x4s to something as complex and highly engineered as an Audi or a Ferrari is absurd. Why do you feel such a need to defend this product without any basis for an argument. Sure, I attacked it without really explaining my point, but when you look at the product and then the price tag, my argument becomes pretty self-explanitory.

And attacking someone on the basis of religion when you haven't got any idea what their religious beliefs are is idiotic. I'd share with you my beliefs, but I'm sure that you'd just hear what you wanted to hear anyway. I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

"In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are, in almost every case, gotten at second hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them are not worth a brass farthing." — Samuel Clemens

After reading all of these comments I almost pissed myself I was laughing so hard!!! I will never look at a 2 x 4 the same way again. Good conversation over a stupid piece of wood!

Yes, it's a 2x4, but it captures light. I've always been fascinated with light, and this lamp uses utter simplicity to create an infinitely variable light pattern (piece to piece). Shining light through thin wood veneers is my thang. Wood grain is cool.

BTW, it'd help to have some actual good pictures of this thing. I'm sure it looks about a 5 out of 10 with these crummy photos on the computer. No doubt this would be at least a wee bit more impressive in person.

$600 is expensive, but it's all relative. I'm sure many viewing this have spent equally exorbitant amounts on their clothes/possessions. "It's not a t-shirt, it's designer!" or "That's not just a cheesy old fiberglass chair you heathen. It's Herman Miller!"

wow.
I had no idea this was out there.
Thank you for everyone's comments.

I'll be putting up my comments soon.
There is a lot to respond to.

-bruce

CPUC, Tree Hugger Products Announce Recall of GLOW AND SMOKE Light Boxes
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Unsafety Commission (CPUC), Bruce Engle Products, of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., is voluntarily recalling about 3 wall mount portable light boxes, used to provide an artsy sort of decorative light. The light boxes have loose wires and lack adequate grounding, presenting fire, electrocution and shock hazards to consumers.

CPSC has received two reports of loose wires, one in which the light box caught fire, resulting in $5,000 property damage. No marshmallows were toasted.

The recalled GLOW and SMOKE light boxes are models G&S 001, G&S 002 and G&S 003. The model number is scribbled on a sticker affixed to the unit's side. The sticker also reads in part, "Artsy Portable Light Box...CSA." The light box consists of a sanded mortised old 2x4 wooden box, containing a fluorescent light, the light box uses a recycled power cord from politically incorrect holiday season lights, and it can be wall mounted.

The light boxes were sold in a box labeled in part, "BRUCE ENGEL PRODUCTS, GLOW AND SMOKE PRO PORTABLE LIGHT BOX, Made in China." A photo of the product and the model number are on the box.

Future perfect stores sold the light boxes from February 2005 through March 2005 for $600 to $666.

Consumers should stop using the recalled light fixtures boxes immediately, and call Treehugger, Inc. (which is now handling this recall) for instructions on returning the projectors to the company for a refund. Consumers should call treehugger, Inc. toll-free at (800) 555-8226 between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. MT Monday through Friday.

Bruce Engel 2x4 Light boxes that are marked with a UL logo are not part of this recall but none were made.

That last one about the recall is pretty funny.
Completely untrue but quite funny.

-bruce