A desk lamp is usually designed to be bright and to stay out of the way. Dimpsy One was drawn from the opposite end: what the light has to do at eleven at night, and what shape the lamp has to be to do it. The head is a plain machined tube because a shade would scatter what the baffle exists to control, and the base is heavy because a lamp that moves is a lamp that gets replaced.
Warmfall
Output and colour temperature fall together on one control, from 3,000K down to 1,800K. The curve warms slowly through the top of the range, where you are still working, and quickly through the bottom, where you are not. On a desk this is the difference between finishing something and stopping. The top of the range is bright enough to read a contract at nine; the bottom is close enough to candlelight that the same desk at half past eleven no longer feels like a place of work.
Steadystate
Most dimmers switch the light off and on very fast and call the average a level. A proportion of people see it — not as flicker exactly, but as a faint unease they blame on being tired. This lowers the current instead, and measures 0 Hz at every setting. A task lamp sits closer to your eyes than any other light in the house and stays there for hours, which is exactly the condition under which pulsed light stops being invisible. Holding the current steady costs more in the driver and is the reason this one is quiet to sit under.
Spillguard
A plate inside the head stops the beam before it reaches the wall behind. What you get is a pool of light with an edge on it, rather than a general warming of the room and a bright patch above the desk. The baffle is why a lamp this small lights a whole desk without putting a bright patch on the wall behind it. The pool has an edge you can see, which is what makes the rest of the room stay dark instead of turning grey.
One button
Press to wake, hold to dim, let go where you want it. The lamp remembers the level you left it at, so the second evening takes one press. Everything else is optional. One press wakes it at the level you left it, which is the level you will want again tomorrow. Nothing else is needed to own this lamp — no phone, no account, no network.
Calibrated to you
The lamp runs its curve on its own. The app adds scheduling, Apple Home automation, voice control, and a calibration that reads your sleep from Apple Health and moves the curve toward what your own eyes turn out to need.
Get on App Store
Specifications
| Height | 41 cm |
| Reach | 18 cm from the column |
| Weight | 1.9 kg |
| Output | 480 lm at full |
| Warmfall range | 3,000–1,800 K |
| Colour rendering | 97 CRI |
| Flicker | 0 Hz at every setting |
| Beam angle | 38° |
| Power | 2–11 W |
| Supply | 24 V DC, external |
| Mounting | Weighted base |
| Rated life | 50,000 h to L80 |
Questions
Why does it get more orange as it dims?
Because that is what the end of a day does, and because your eyes expect it. Below about 50 lux, cool light reads as clinical and warm light reads as evening. The longer version is on How it falls.
What is a Kelvin?
A measure of how warm or cool a light source is — lower is warmer. Candlelight is around 1,850 K, a domestic bulb is 2,700, an office ceiling is 4,000, and midday outside is about 5,500. It is not a measure of brightness, which is the thing most people expect it to be.
Will it be bright enough?
Yes, and brighter than you expect at full. It is a task lamp: a lot of light onto a small area rather than a little onto a whole room. If you want to light an entire room from one object, this is the wrong object.
Is there an app?
No.
How long does shipping take?
Three to five business days across the EU and the US. Everything ships from Ghent. There is no expedited option, because there is no warehouse to expedite from.
Can I return it?
Sixty days, opened, used, no reason required. Put it back in the box it came in. We pay return shipping within the EU; outside it, we split it.
Do you sell through retailers?
No. A shop that carries this alongside forty other lamps has to explain the dimming curve to every customer, and it turns out they do not.
What does the warranty cover?
Five years, the whole lamp rather than just the LED. The head detaches from the column without tools, so a failed emitter is a part we post to you rather than a lamp you post to us. The cable is replaceable for the same reason.