Plamp

Every leaf becomes a shape of light and shadow — a living lamp that never casts the same pattern twice.

It started with an observation: a plant next to a light throws beautiful shadows. Playing around with lamps beside existing pots confirmed the effect but never felt right — the lighting was always uneven. The fix was obvious once seen: the light source has to sit in the middle of the plant. That meant building a pot around a lamp.

First came small test pots, just to explore shapes and forms. Then bigger models to test fit, all built parametrically in Fusion 360 so dimensions could shift without starting over. The final design added hidden cable management and easy drop-in electronics — deliberate choices, because this is the first of a series and every version needs to accept the same internals.

Diffusion was the hard part. Getting even, soft light through the centre took multiple parts in different materials and thicknesses before transparent PETG won — the right glow, and better heat resistance than the alternatives. The other problem was one that only shows up when you think like a plant owner: watering. Pouring water into a pot with electronics inside is asking for a short circuit. The answer is a layered system — water can't reach the inside even when poured directly on top — plus a silicone sock over the electronics for good measure. Printing the pot walls leak-tight was a known trick from earlier projects; that knowledge paid off here.

The electronics stayed deliberately simple: an E27 fitting you screw a bulb into, a normal EU plug, a light switch. Nothing proprietary. The finished unit now lives on the desk — good to look at by day, indirect lighting for late-night work sessions by night.