No Room is Too Dark: New Terrarium Pendants with Grow Lights

Gone are the dark and dreary days of courtyard-level studio living with nary a plant in sight to green your place. Thanks to the innovative combination of LED-powered grow lamps and mid-century modern pendants, one designer has created a terrarium that everyone can keep alive — and in any space.

Globe Terrariums are hanging, hand-blown glass orbs masterminded by designer Richard Clarkson, featuring an LED light integrated and hidden right inside the slim stainless steel cable. The power cord and pendant design let the globes (available in 12″ and 8″ diameters) “float” in the air from any height, and offer an array of mood lighting options — from a lush fairy garden of bright green to a more dark and mystical rainforest effect — according to Inhabitat this week.

More Schoolhouse Electric than science project, these sleek and minimal light fixtures have really perfected the streamlined concept of integrating a terrarium into a pendant lamp. Back in 2011, we were in awe of these oversized terrarium pendant lights at the at the glass design studio of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague, which now look a bit rudimentary and steampunk in comparison with their exposed lightbulbs and complicated wiring.

Truth be told, we’ve actually been a bit obsessed with terrarium lamps for over a decade, and what’s not to love? The empty glass vessel of the lamp — whether a traditional standing design or these new contemporary pendant globes — offer a stunning minimalist display where the only limit is your imagination.

Or your DIY gardening patience for creating contained, living ecosystems. But, when put together correctly, terrariums — especially those with the additional assistance of modulating, dimmable lights — can easily combine natural, botanical beauty with half the necessary care of a regular plant.

Even in the smallest and gloomiest of tiny spaces.