What if you could pack a lamp in a suitcase or briefcase? With no protective bubble wrap. No foam peanuts. What if it took up no more space than a folded pair of jeans? It sounds very Jetsons to me, but clearly, the future is now. If you have a 100 foot extension cord and Craighton Berman’s DIY Coil lamp kit, you can have a good-looking table lamp whenever and wherever you’d like one.

Take a look at these photos to see how it works:

Start with the DIY kit and an extension cord.

Attach the lightbulb adapter to the receiving end of an extension cord.

Then wrap the extension cord around the lasercut acrylic form. And voilá. You’ve got a table lamp.

To be honest, I’m not sure how many times I’ve needed to pack up a plug-in light source, but in addition to its portability, there are several things I admire about this lamp design:

1) The simplicity of the idea. As described in the product description, “It reduces the domestic table lamp to the absolute minimum of defining elements. A single electrical cord coils around what appears to be an empty volume, defining the iconic form of a table lamp and ultimately powering a single light bulb.”

2) The way a common industrial/household item is made beautiful. “The entire lamp is created exclusively from a 100 foot extension cord that has been wrapped around a laser-cut clear acrylic form. This simple transformation elevates the status of the humble extension cord to the realm of domestic design.”

3) The accessibility of the design. Once you can see how it’s put together, it’s clear than anyone can make one. No special skills are required. No specialized tools. In fact, no tools at all except a pair of hands.

This feels like something you might find being sold in a high-end design outlet, available only through an interior designer. Or. It’s easy to imagine it being mass-produced via an outlet like Ikea. It also seems fitting for an emergency housing situation, when more breakable materials wouldn’t be appropriate.

What do you think? Do you like this concept? Do you like it enough to put a coil lamp in your house?