How it started

It Started With an Idea

When I first started designing these lamps, the idea was actually quite simple.

I wanted to create something that could bring people a little bit of comfort.

There are few things more meaningful than a favourite photograph. I just wondered if there was another way we could bring those memories into our homes — something you didn't need to pick up or turn a light on to see.

Something that could simply sit there, glowing.

There's something about seeing a photograph illuminated that I think is really beautiful. So I started designing and making the lamps that would eventually become Lampli.

At the time, I knew what I was making meant a lot to people. But I don't think I truly understood how much until I received a phone call I'll never forget.

The Phone Call I Still Think About

A man named Damien called me while he was in hospice.

He was very sick and knew he didn't have long left.

Damien wanted to order lamps for his family, including his two daughters. He was choosing photographs and arranging these gifts so that, after he was gone, his family would have something from him to remember him by.

I still think about that phone call all the time.

It completely changed the way I looked at what I was making.

These weren't just lamps.

Someone, during one of the hardest moments imaginable, had trusted me to make something his daughters could keep after he was gone.

That's something I've never forgotten.

More Than a Lamp

Since then, I've heard so many stories from the people we've made lamps for.

For some, their lamp sits beside their bed and is the last thing they see at night. For others, it's something they switch on every morning. Some are remembering a parent, a grandparent, a partner, a friend or even a much-loved pet.

And some are simply celebrating the people they love while they're still here.

Every Lampli is made here in our workshop in Dublin, Ireland, and today we've sent them to homes all over the world.

It's still a bit mad to me when I think about that.

Knowing that something we made here in Dublin is sitting in someone's home hundreds or thousands of miles away, lighting up a photograph of somebody they love, is something I'll never take for granted.

That's why what we make matters so much to me.

They're not just lamps.

They're memories you can turn on.

— Nathan
Founder of Lampli