Will Gompertz: Now here is a bright idea - a designer, low-energy light bulb. So now, if you want to illuminate your home inan eco-friendly fashion, you have this curvaceous choice. The designers spent a great deal of time worrying about what might turn people on, and what might turn them off.

Their quest was to marry practicality, something that actually works, with a sense of style and beauty, to create an object of desire. Something that you not only wanted to own, but hopefully also wanted to keep.

Nicolas Roope: And that's really the role of the designer, I think, is to make objects that people really connect with and really cherish, you know. I think that's one of our roles, and obviously in this case this isn't just about prettifying. This is about, you know, obviously, the underlying problem of getting people to adopt this stuff, because obviously that's in everybody's interests.

Will Gompertz: That is if money is not too much of an issue - funky costs. Each one is nearly £20. That's up to twenty times the price of some other low-energy bulbs. It's too early to judge if this product has a dazzling future, but its creators will be reassured to know that at least one major household goods retailer said its customers did not consider light bulbs dull. In fact, to them, design matters.

Will Gompertz, BBC News