Concept → Reality · Rewritten

Nissyoku: an eclipse you could hang, stand or mount

In March 2010, a Budapest design student published a lamp shaped like the lens where two spheres overlap, with magnetic lens-shaped panels that slide across its face like the moon across the sun.

The Design Blog editors

Vico Magistretti’s Eclisse lamp for Artemide, in white

Artemide’s Eclisse (1965): turn the inner shell and the light waxes and wanes. AI-retouched from an image by Camillo Frigeni et al., CC BY-SA 4.0.

Verdict 2026

Shown, not shipped

Nissyoku was modeled and photographed, collected design awards in 2010 and 2011, and was promised for the market by Christmas 2012, but we found no evidence that it was ever sold. It remains a well-documented student project.

Brightech Eclipse LED Floor Lamp, SilverClosest thing you can buyBrightech Eclipse LED Floor Lamp, Silver7.2Design ratingTwo tilting rings, a light line drawingCheck priceOur design review ↓

The idea today

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Two lamps on sale today that play with a halo of light around a darker center.

  • Brightech Eclipse LED Floor Lamp, Silver

    Brightech Eclipse LED Floor Lamp, Silver

    Two slim LED rings on a tall stem, each tilted on its own, a plain and affordable take on the eclipse halo.

    Our design review

    7.2Design rating
    Form7.8
    Material7.0
    Detail6.8
    Longevity7.0

    The Eclipse is two thin LED rings on a tall metal stem, each tilted on its own, so at 79 inches it reads as a light drawing in the room. A touch button in the pole dims it through three levels, and the listing claims 1,236 lumens. Up close it is a budget lamp: the pole comes in screw-together sections, and one Amazon reviewer found it slightly crooked when they were not tight. The LEDs are built in, so a failed ring means a warranty claim, not a bulb.

    Strongest point
    Two tilting rings, a light line drawing
    Compromise
    Built-in LEDs, budget sectioned pole
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  • Philips Hue Iris Smart Table Lamp, White

    Philips Hue Iris Smart Table Lamp, White

    A round, translucent table lamp built for indirect light, so the object reads as a glowing ring against the wall.

    Our design review

    7.8Design rating
    Form8.6
    Material7.2
    Detail7.4
    Longevity7.8

    Iris is a ring of light set on a flat-cut base that tilts it about 45 degrees toward the wall, with a translucent diffuser inside a clear shell. PCWorld found the diffuser glows even at 1 percent, so the lamp reads as an object and not just a light source. The shell and base are plastic, which iMore called plasticky, and the fabric cable ends in a bulky adapter. The LED is integrated, so the lamp’s life is the life of that module.

    Strongest point
    Glowing ring tilted toward the wall
    Compromise
    Plastic shell and integrated, non-replaceable LED
    Check price on Amazon

Product images from the retailer listings, cut out and staged with AI.

  1. 1965Vico Magistretti designs Eclisse for Artemide, a lamp whose inner shell rotates to close down the light; it wins the Compasso d’Oro in 1967.
  2. 2010Péter Toronyi, an industrial design student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, joins the Igendesign student group.
  3. 2010Igendesign publishes Nissyoku as a MOME student project on March 4; Yanko Design covers it on March 8.
  4. 2010Minimalissimo credits the lamp to Toronyi and describes its use as pendant, table or wall lamp.
  5. 2011Toronyi’s portfolio lists Nissyoku’s first prize in the 2010 Koizumi International Lighting Design Competition, plus a Red Dot award and a Hungarian Design Award in 2011, and promises the lamp for Christmas 2012.
  6. 2013In January the same portfolio page still says Nissyoku is 'going to be on the market’ at Christmas 2012; no sales listing follows.
  7. 2023Yuichiro Morimoto shows Nisshoku, an unrelated acrylic disc that collects ambient light and glows at its edge without electricity.

What it was

Nissyoku takes its name from the Japanese word for an eclipse. Its body is the lens shape formed where two spheres overlap. On each face sits a smaller lens-shaped panel held in place by magnets. Turn or slide a panel across the concave surface and the light changes direction and strength, the way the moon’s disc changes how much of the sun gets through. Touching the metal ring around the middle switches it on or off.

The project description, published on the Igendesign student group’s blog in March 2010, called for one 5W LED per panel and a hybrid supercapacitor instead of a battery, chosen for its long cycle life and lack of maintenance. The body was to be vacuum formed from a reusable or biodegradable polymer, with aluminum and porcelain named as alternatives. A magnetic bracket and metal discs let the same lamp hang as a pendant, sit on a table or mount on a wall.

The designer was Péter Toronyi, then an industrial design student at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. A teacher had made a Japanese lighting competition a required class project, and Nissyoku was his entry. His portfolio lists first prize in the Koizumi International Lighting Design Competition in 2010, followed by a Red Dot award and a Hungarian Design Award for the lamp in 2011.

An eclipse you could adjust with one finger, then hang on the wall.

Why it stalled

Toronyi’s portfolio page said Nissyoku would be on the market at Christmas 2012. A November 2011 submission to the design site Moco Loco said the same and invited readers to email him to order. In January 2013 the portfolio still used the future tense. We could not find a manufacturer, a retailer or a review of a shipping product. Taking a supercapacitor-powered lamp with sliding magnetic panels into production is a large step for a student, and the lamp appears to have stopped at the model stage. Toronyi still works as a designer in Budapest, and Nissyoku remains in his online portfolio.

What it means now

The eclipse is a durable idea in lighting. Vico Magistretti’s Eclisse for Artemide, designed in 1965 and awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1967, already let you rotate an inner shell to close down the light. In 2023, Yuichiro Morimoto showed Nisshoku, an acrylic disc that gathers ambient light and glows at its rim without any power supply. Nissyoku sits between the two: an adjustable eclipse that could move around the house. It is a strong student lamp, and a reminder that a clear image is only the first half of a product.

The original post, summarized

Our March 2010 post described Nissyoku as an eclipse-inspired LED lamp with magnetic, movable panels, a supercapacitor instead of a battery, and a body that works as pendant, table or wall light. It is summarized here rather than republished.

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