Header: © Billy Easter / PUBLICPARTS
In the quiet glow of city streets at night, a square window frames a slice of somebody else’s life. Soft amber, cool blue, or tinted rose spills onto the dark pavement, turning private rooms into blocks of public colour. This urban phenomenon, the way light transforms an interior space into a glowing architectural block, sparked the creation of the Gel Lamp, a tactile new release from London-based designer and artist Billy Easter of PUBLICPARTS Studio.
Launched in August 2026, the Gel Lamp strips away the rigid glass and polished metal typically associated with modern table lamps, replacing them with hand-cast platinum-cure silicone. Measuring roughly 11.5 centimetres on all sides, the translucent cube houses a 5V dimmable LED core. But the defining feature of the piece lies in its flexibility. Taking inspiration from the coloured gel filters used in photography setups and theatre rigs, Easter designed a system of soft, coloured silicone inserts that slide directly into the translucent body.
From photography gear to portable architecture
The concept grew out of studio experimentation. While working with clear silicone, Easter began paying close attention to how light moved through the dense, flexible material. Rather than permanently tinting the entire structure during casting, he separated the colour from the main body, turning the light hue into a modular component you can swap out by hand.
The Gel Lamp was partly inspired by illuminated windows at night and the way the atmosphere of a private interior spills out into the city as a geometric field of colour. Thinking of a room as a volume, Easter became interested in how the combined light within it creates a distinct hue that becomes publicly visible from outside. The cube becomes a small architectural volume where colour occupies the space inside before diffusing through the translucent silicone walls.
Each piece acts as a miniature room. Light originates deep inside the cube, filters through whichever coloured gel you slide into place, and then spreads across the soft silicone walls. Thirteen gel colours are available at launch, with every lamp shipping alongside a pair of inserts. Because Easter plans to release fresh gel colours and geometric configurations over time as separate collections, the £375 piece can adapt as a space or mood shifts, giving the design an open-ended lifecycle.
Handcrafted patience and material contrast
Though the lamp relies on a strict geometric shape, its physical presence is surprisingly soft and durable. Even turned off, the translucent body catches ambient sunlight, shifting slightly in tone as the weather outside changes. It exists comfortably on a shelf as an intriguing block of sculpture long before anyone flips the switch.
Production happens entirely by hand in Easter’s London studio, far removed from assembly lines. Casting each piece takes several days of carefully pouring, setting, and finishing platinum-cure silicone. Small variations in texture and tiny imperfections naturally surface during the process, making every unit distinct. To reflect this slow, deliberate method of creation, PUBLICPARTS releases the design in small, numbered runs rather than continuous mass production.
Rethinking how we live with objects
Objects often sit in our rooms like frozen ideas, locked forever in the exact state they left the factory floor. When a piece of design leaves room for human touch, inviting you to physically swap a shade, bend an edge, or alter its glow, it stops being just another piece of furniture gathering dust. It becomes a conversation. By pulling the functional logic of a camera filter into a squeezable, cast-silicone block, Easter reminds us that light isn’t something that just sits on top of a surface; it is a living texture we can shape, hold, and change whenever we feel like seeing our rooms in a different way.
Product info
Designer: Billy Easter / PUBLICPARTS
Material: Platinum-cure silicone
Dimensions: approx. 11.5 × 11.5 × 11.5 cm
Light source: 5V dimmable LED
Gels: 13 colours currently available; each lamp includes two interchangeable silicone gels
Production: Small, numbered batches
Price: £375
Launch: August 2026
Designed and made: London, UK
Image credit: © Billy Easter / PUBLICPARTS
