Every once in a while, you stumble on a gadget that haunts your nights and can pop up unbidden in your daydreams. You imagine it on your desk, next to your best 4K TV, or filling a wall like a vertical box of delicious donuts.
IKEA’s quirky, donut-shaped Varmblixt lamp is that product, and I haven’t stopped obsessing over the Bluetooth lamp since I saw it at CES 2026.
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I’m glad, though, that IKEA chose to keep the tiny physical remote, which means that even if you don’t want to hook the lamp up to an app, you can access all 12 colors (app control raises the customization level to 40 distinct hues).
There’s the other reason I’m obsessing over Varmblixt: I used that remote. Unlike most other Bluetooth LED-based lighting systems that make hard, almost jarring switches between colors, Varmblixt takes it slow.
With each press of the remote, I watched as the color shifted almost imperceptibly, then slowly transitioned to the new, fully-dimmable hue. Not only that, but the color diffusion under the molded glass is near perfect. It’s simply beautiful to watch, and I loved basking in the glow.
Function follows form
None of this would work so well if there weren’t such a clear marriage between the design and color choices. Dutch artist Sabine Marcelis clearly designed the pair to be a marriage of hue and form. Even the way the colors change is more like a symphony than a switch, and is the perfect match for the Varmblixt’s smooth looks.
Perhaps the other thing that attracted me to the Varmblixt is its fundamental simplicity. No hubs, just a choice to use the remote or the app.
One wonders if the Philips Hue lineup of smart lighting products would be the same kind of sensation if it paid as much attention to design and simplicity.
I remember thinking that Varmblixt would be perfect if it were also rechargeable and truly wireless; then my secret dream of a wall of them could come true.
The other thing I loved is that even though this is a more powerful and smarter version, Varmblixt will still cost just $99 (prices will vary outside the US) when it ships in April.
I know this is just a lamp, but the best technology products are often the ones that do one thing and do it very well. Varmblixt appears to succeed on that level, but it will do more than that because when you have one or more of these donut lamps in the home, they will be instant conversation pieces. And whether you’re using your app, voice, or the handy remote to control them, I bet you elicit more than a few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’.
There is, by the way, another Varmblixt option, a large hanging LED pendant light, which looks like a random bunch of hanging ‘U’s. It currently only supports white light and also ships in April for $149. I do not dream about that lamp.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
