How Many Hipsters Does It Take to Change the Lightbulb?

January 8, 2018 Jessica Greene

The antique-style lamps that are fast becoming a design necessity for retro bars, hip restaurants and chic homes from New York to London are helping to save the Earth—and keep people buying.

The old-fashioned bulbs, which look like the inefficient incandescent technology patented by Thomas Edison in 1878, could encourage people to change their lightbulbs more than once a decade, even as the world moves to greener lamps.

By rearranging LED chips onto a strip inside the bulb instead of in a clump, bulb makers found they can satisfy the innate human desire for warmer, natural light, which the first generation of LED bulbs failed to offer.

“People are looking for that sparkle and the cozy and warm effect that you see in incandescent bulbs,” said Kristof Vermeersch, head of global product management of LED spots at Philips Lighting NV.