Transforming the lowly light switch into a sculptural design element, Normal Design has added visual and tactile interest to the utilitarian device.

Each year during Tokyo Design Week, DesignTide Tokyo features top design innovations from a variety of fields. With today marking the end of the five-day event, we’ve highlighted three projects below that we find particularly inspirational.

The Holiday Inn chain of hotels is switching over to energy efficient LED lighting for their signage, which will lead to an estimated $4.4 million in savings annually.

Greypants is a side project from a group of architects based in Seattle. At the 2009 ICFF fair, they were showing off their impressive “Scrap Lights” – hanging lamps made out of salvaged corrugated cardboard. Contemporist has more photos of the lights here.
Greypants

Several towns in Germany have taken saving on energy bills a step further and turned out all the street lights. Residents were initially concerned about crime and personal safety, but a system was developed to allow them to turn the lights on by calling a number from their cell phones. Of course, the bigger the city, the more complicated the system. In Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz (pop. 900), one phone call turns on all the street lights, but in Dörentrup, citizens must plan their routes ahead of time. The BBC reports:
Although residents appear happy with the system in this BBC clip, the Dörentrup [...]