{"id":299081,"date":"2026-02-24T03:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299081\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T03:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:09:16","slug":"two-ux-improvements-to-a-centuries-old-japanese-portable-light-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299081\/","title":{"rendered":"Two UX Improvements to a Centuries-Old Japanese Portable Light Source"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This unassuming-looking piece of iron, called a teshoku, was a luxury item in 1600s Japan. <\/p>\n

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At the time, wealthy households and temples lit their interiors at night with candles. The candles were themselves a luxury item, being painstakingly made by crushing up the fruit seeds of a wax tree, and were typically placed around a house in fixed or tabletop candleholders. But some unknown craftsman added a novel UX improvement to the candleholders: The long, horizontally-stretching leg you see, which allowed the user to pick up the light source and carry it around.<\/p>\n

By the 1800s, cheaper paraffin candles became a thing, and the teshoku trickled down to common people.<\/p>\n

Now the teshoku has received yet another UX upgrade. Dai Furuwatari is a modern-day Japanese product designer turned ironworker. He designed this Pendulum Candleholder<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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It has two innovations. The first is that the long leg can also be used as a hanging hook.<\/p>\n

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The second is that the device integrates a pivot, for varied carrying positions:<\/p>\n

The candle mount is also removable, for cleaning.<\/p>\n

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The candleholders are made-to-order by Furuwatari’s iron products company, To-Tetsu.<\/a> They retail for $158. <\/p>\n


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