Gantri
- At Gantri, you can shop beautiful and unique 3D-printed lamps created by independent designers from around the world.
- All the lamps are creative and eye-catching, not to mention light, durable, and functional. At $98 to $188, they’re pricier than average lamps — but they’re clearly not average.
- We tried and reviewed four lamps from the site and loved them. They provided a warm glow to our rooms and often featured as conversation-starting centerpieces.
I always thought the beautiful lighting pieces I saw in home magazines and airy, minimalist design studios were the stuff of dreams and unattainable aspirations.
Though undeniably stylish and unique, they’re usually produced in limited quantities and extremely expensive. Because I have to pay rent every month, I make the executive decision to pass on my favorite architecturally-inspired masterpiece — but oh, do I wish I could bring it home with me.
Gantri is an online startup that makes buying cool, independently designed lamps more accessible and affordable. It serves as both a platform for designers to launch their products online and a marketplace for shoppers to discover independent designers from around the world and buy beautiful, functional lighting pieces.
How Gantri’s lamps are made
First, designers apply to join Gantri’s Create platform and submit their concepts. If accepted, they turn their concept into a 3D model using Gantri’s design guide and pre-modeled components. Once the design is finalized, it lands in the hands of Gantri engineers, who produce the lamps at a 3D printing factory in San Leandro, California.
They’re made using a custom blend of PLA, a thermoplastic usually derived from a renewable resource such as corn or sugar cane starch. Gantri uses natural corn starch to create its PLA, resulting in a more sustainable manufacturing process and light yet durable final product.
Gantri handles all the assembly, photoshoots, shipping, and customer service, while the original designer receives a royalty on sales.
The designers and their designs
Since all the designers are given the same basic set of tools to create their lamps, it’s striking and impressive how different each one turns out. Their designs are creative and eye-catching, ranging from the sharp elegance of an iceberg (that also doubles as a media stand) to smooth odes to the Art Deco era. On each individual product page, you can learn about the inspiration behind a design, which personally helped me appreciate it even more and made my final decision easier.
You can also click on the designer profile to find their other work on Gantri and beyond. Gantri features industrial designers, product designers, art directors and managers, and architects from all over, including Barcelona, Milan, New York, Chicago, London, and Chiasso, Switzerland.
What the lamps are like
When I received a lamp from Gantri for review, my first impression was that it was surprisingly light given its size and look. But it’s not a cheap type of light weight. The thickness and texture of the material, as well as the sharp attention to detail paid to all components of the lamp, showed that thoughtful work went into producing the lamp. Each comes with a pre-installed lightbulb and a dimmer.
Gantri’s lamps, which range from $98 to $188 each, are certainly more expensive than anything from a mass retailer. Compared to what you’ll find at a boutique or independent design studio for something similar, however, they’re not expensive at all. You’re ultimately paying a great price for an original design, durable and sustainable construction, and a convenient shopping experience.
We tried and reviewed four lamps from Gantri. See them in action and learn more about each one below.
PyraSphere Table Light
Sally Kaplan/Business Insider
PyraSphere Table Light, $128
I’m usually not attracted to super modern or angular anything, but I do love a good sculptural lamp (I most recently bought an insane Vetri Murano glass egg lamp for the living room, a purchase I don’t think I’ll ever regret unless my cat knocks it over someday).
The PyraSphere light from Gantri caught my eye, though, as an interesting study in sharp contrast.
I put the lamp on a stool in our home office so I could work and read with soft, dimmable, warm lighting in the evenings. The lamp gives off enough light to fill a large room, but when it’s off, it looks as if it were a sculpture or piece of artwork, which I love.
And, because of how portable it is, I also like to plug it in outside on our balcony at night as a complement to our outdoor solar lights. It makes a great conversation piece when we have friends over, and the light isn’t so bright that we feel blinded by it. —Sally Kaplan, editor
Konus Table Light
Connie Chen/Business Insider
Konus Table Light, $168
I know that I’ve grown up when the highlight of my day, the thing I often most look forward to doing, is turning on my beautiful lamp, nestling into bed, and falling asleep to a podcast.
My ceiling lights are harsh and cold, and I could switch them out to warm light bulbs, but that doesn’t change how stale their overhead utilitarian look is. You can think about Gantri’s lights as purely expensive lamps, but they’re also works of art, with thoughtful, artistic intention behind them. The Konus lamp has a unique, shuttlecock-esque design that I admire every time I step into my room. It never gets old to look at.
It’s fun and creative, and also practical. I was initially concerned that this design would limit the way the light spreads, but it actually fills my bedroom with a warm and cozy aura that’s frighteningly conducive to bedtime relaxation. I have it on a ledge right above my head, so it’s easy for me to adjust the brightness using the dimmer as I sit in bed. —Connie Chen, reporter
Mellow Fellow Table Light
Danny Bakst/Business Insider
Mellow Fellow Table Light, $168
I originally wanted to use my Gantri Mellow Fellow Table Lamp as a reading light in my bedroom, but it’s sleek design quickly convinced me that it should be displayed in my living room for all my guests to see.
Beyond its aesthetic, the lamp is surprisingly capable of illuminating my admittedly small New York City apartment. My apartment has good natural light, so we usually don’t turn on any lights until the sun goes down, but now once the evening arrives, my Gantri lamp lights up my apartment instead of the obtrusive, glare-inducing overhead lighting.
Another added bonus is the dimmer effect. I wake up and head to work earlier than my girlfriend, and I can turn on the lamp just slightly enough so that I can complete my morning routine free from stubbed toes and mismatched socks, without waking anyone up with a blinding bright light. —Danny Bakst, content producer
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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