Vespers

Vespers is the first lighting piece from The Soft Minimal: a cordless table lamp with a mirror polished dome and body shaped like a mushroom, carried in one unbroken plating. It is named for vesper, Latin for evening, the hour that once flowed toward the lighting of the first lamp of the night. Vespers is that lamp.

It works two ways. Carry it on its battery from the desk to the dinner table to the nightstand, or leave it plugged in on one table and run it like any ordinary corded lamp. The power switch sits underneath, deliberately out of easy reach. A touch button on the body steps the light through fixed levels of brightness and moves it between three modes: white for a table set for dinner, natural for a book, warm for the last hour before sleep.

Under the dome, a white diffusing disc softens a 3W LED into a pool of light on the table instead of a glare thrown across the room. At 27 cm tall and 1.56 kg, it stays where it is set down. The mirror finish means it never has one fixed color. It takes half of its color from the room it is standing in, which is the reason it comes in four colors rather than one: silver, black, gold, rose gold.

A rechargeable 18650 battery refills through the Type-C port at the base in 3 to 4 hours. In our testing, one charge runs up to about 12 hours at the lowest setting, and 3.5 to 4 hours at brighter ones.

• Mirror polished dome and body, shaped like a mushroom, in silver, black, gold or rose gold
• Cordless on battery, or plugged in and run as an ordinary corded lamp
• Power switch on the underside of the base; touch button on the body steps brightness through fixed levels and moves between warm, white and natural
• 3W LED, CRI 80Ra, softened by a white diffusing disc beneath the dome
• Rechargeable 18650 battery, 3600mAh: full charge in 3 to 4 hours, up to about 12 hours at the lowest setting
• 27 cm tall (10.6 in), dome 18 cm across (7.1 in), 1.56 kg (3.4 lb). Type-C cable included, wall adapter not included