Habraken and Mannino’s table lamp, at the Charles & Marie booth, may hold an ICFF speed record: it was designed only four weeks ago in a collaboration that, Mannino says, was “done in ten minutes, basically, for fun.” The two prototypes on display, in brushed-aluminum and white, were finished a mere three days prior to the fair. Each uses three ten-watt incandescent bulbs—an increasing rarity in this age of compact fluorescents and LEDs. But for Mannino the choice was obvious, and not only because he prefers the warmer glow of incandescents. “We’re against the mercury campaign,” he says, referring to the small amount of the toxic material found in all fluorescent bulbs. Regardless of your feelings on that issue—for many, the energy savings trump the very slight chance of mercury poisoning—the lamp does seem to benefit from its combination of extreme simplicity and a certain retro charm. “It’s cartoonish, it’s fun,” Mannino says, “and it reminds you of the Broadway makeup table.”
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