When I think of fiber optic lighting, all that comes to mind are those awful 1970s starburst lamps. So I was so thrilled when I came across these beautiful organic designs which use the same basic lighting technology that begat such ugliness in the first place.

Created by Torbjörn Lundell of Sweden’s GloFab, these unusual fixtures radiate an ethereal glow as light courses through their fibrous veins.

I like to think of GloFab like an illuminated textile. By weaving intricate patterns of fiber optic cable, then connecting them to a bright light source, these wondrous glowing sculptures come to life.

GloFab lighting is available as either a woven fabric or in a spherical design, and are available only on a custom-quoted basis at this point.

[via designboom]

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Are you a Mario fanatic? Here’s a couple of new desktop toys which are a must for any serious Super Mario collector.

These excellent Super Mario Sofubi (soft vinyl) figures stand 9.5-inches tall and look great in your cubicle, living room, standing on top of your horizontal Wii, or even glued to your car’s hood as an ornament.

They’re $18 each from the Giant Robot Store and available in both a Classic Mario and white Fire Mario versions.

While I don’t think these are officially sanctioned by LEGO, these whimsical MP3 players bear a striking resemblance to the colorful interlocking plastic blocks.

Homade’s LEGO-esque media players cleverly conceal their controls into the raised dots on the surface of each block. The players come in a variety of bold primary colors, and like their snap-together doppelgangers, are made primarily from plastic. 

Each one comes with a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery that should give you about 6 hours of play time, and from what I can tell, you’ll have to provide your own microSD card for storage (2GB max). At $46 a pop, they are a bit expensive for players with no included memory.

Already have an iPod? Then you might want to pick up Homade’s LEGO-like iPod stereo dock, which conceals its speakers under the bumpy block surface. The iPod dock runs about $40 bucks.

 If you’re just an absolute LEGO block fanatic (and don’t mind that they’re not really LEGOs) you can find the whole collection all over at Homeloo.