Vintage stone lighting - close but no cigar

These fibreglass and resin garden lights are painted to look like stone. The idea is to solve that garden design quandary: how to find garden lighting that is attractive in the day?

By day these lights from Joanna Wallis really are convincing in their imitation of a vintage stone globe, whilst at night the light glows through the resin and fibreglass, turning the globe into a sort of lamp.

It sounds too good to be true. Finally, a solution to my pet dilemma... and you could even hide a solar panel in their rather than a bulb, so no power or wiring would be necessary.

The Fibreglass and resin shell is pretty convincing in the daylight

But whilst the painted fibreglass/resin shell makes a suprisingly accurate immiation of vintage stone sculptural accents, it just looks wrong for a stone pillar to light up at night -

and dare I say it.... rather tacky.

But at night, it just looks silly and terribly cheap...

It really is an interesting idea to try and create a cameleon form of lighting that is camouflagued in daylight - or even one that draws attention to itself as a different sculptural focal point in the daytime. I'm looking forward to the day when a canny product designer takes the essence of this idea just a little bit further - replacing the bulb with solar cells and creating a form which works day and night with equal elegance and conviction.

So, three cheers for Joanna Wallis for her contribution thus far, but it looks like there is still a long way to go.