er..it may not have occurred to the designer, but the idea of a lamp is to provide light. The clue is in the name. It's also the main reason why all those mundane, clay-footed fuddy-duddy-dinosaur designers in the past made shades from translucent or transparent materials. This thing obscures at least three quarters of the CFL's already sparse lumens that are projected horizontally. If what you desperately need is a dim circle of light on the ceiling and have $150 burning a hole in your pocket, this is the baby for you! Alternatively, why not wrap an existing lampshade in spirals of insulting tape and save $$$!
