How LEDs Are Changing Design

Piercingly bright yet implausibly small, light-emitting diodes—or LEDs, to use their somewhat catchier nickname—are having an outsize influence on interior design. These energy-efficient light sources, which require a fraction of the electricity of incandescent and even the much-loathed compact-fluorescent bulbs, aren't just giving stressed-out environmentalists reason for optimism. They're also freeing designers to reinvent lamps—and light itself—in ways that once seemed impossible.