Torch bearer: ingenious use of quite commonplace materials and technology light the way

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 2004

The extreme simplicity of Carl Fredrik Svenstedt's Glowgo lamp is what attracted the jury to the design. It is a lamp and a base from which it gets its power. A low wattage fluorescent bulb with a rechargeable battery allows the lamp to be lit either when it is on its base, or when carried separately (for up to eight hours) in buildings or outside.

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Made of moulded polypropylene, which is up to 90 per cent recyclable, the lamp is about as ecologically effective as it can be, and when Svenstedt argues that it is 'an electrical candle, a modern alternative to the kerosene lamp', it can be imagined as a way-finder through dark boreal forests. Only reservations by some jurors about the overall form prevented it achieving higher recognition.