Lampure
Year 1 (2025-26)
by Jacob Meyer
Lampure combines the form of a lamp and the function of an air purifier to deliver clean air directly within the proper breathing zone, redefining how air purification fits into modern living spaces.
About This Idea
Lampure is not just a lamp. It’s a new product category.
The problem is air purifiers are bulky, unattractive appliances that sit at floor level, take up space, and operate separately from lighting despite the fact that clean air is most needed within the human breathing zone. The solution that Lampure integrates is true air purification directly into a standard lamp form factor, delivering clean air at the proper breathing height while preserving aesthetics and eliminating the need for a separate appliance.
Lampure integrates a high-performance air purification system directly into a standard drum-style lamp form factor. By combining lighting and air purification into a single vertical architecture, Lampure delivers clean air where it matters most, within the human breathing zone instead of passively filtering at floor level like traditional units.
Most air purifiers are bulky appliances that sit against walls and disrupt interior design. Lampure eliminates that compromise. All mechanical and filtration components are hidden within the lampshade, creating complete aesthetic camouflage. It looks like a lamp. It functions like a medical-grade air purifier.
The modular system includes:
The lampshade that houses the horizontal air purification unit and can be retrofitted into and lamp based making any lamp a Lampure, The two “stems” that allow the Lampure to be either a table lamp or a floor lamp, the base that stabilizes all Lampure related modularity products
Universal compatibility with standard light bulb sockets enabling retrofit onto existing lamp bases
This plug-and-play architecture expands the market size. Instead of selling dozens of lamp styles, Lampure sells a purifier engine that integrates into existing decor.
Long term, Lampure becomes a platform:
Floor and table variants
Smart home integration
“Bring Your Own Shade”
Where Did This Idea Spark at WMU?
Lampure was born out of systems-thinking in WMU’s Product Design program at the Richmond Institute for Design and Innovation.
In studio and in student housing, I kept noticing two things:
Air feels stagnant in small indoor environments.
Every room already has a lamp.
The design question became: why are we adding more appliances instead of upgrading what already exists?
By applying principles of integration, modularity, and breathing-zone optimization, Lampure emerged as a design solution that combines two essential systems into one product.
Impact in Kalamazoo
If Lampure succeeds in Kalamazoo, it positions the region as a launchpad for hardware innovation in the wellness and home category.
Local impact includes:
Healthier indoor air for student housing and apartments
Reduced appliance redundancy and energy waste
Local prototyping, testing, and possible small-batch manufacturing partnerships
A scalable startup emerging from WMU
Kalamazoo becomes the proving ground for a product that has national consumer potential.
Students, renters, homeowners, and co-living spaces benefit immediately. Long term, it creates the foundation for a design-driven consumer product company headquartered here.
How Investment Helps
Funding enables transition from concept, to functional prototype.
With investment, I will:
Further product development
Build a fully operational purifier-head assembly
Validate airflow, CADR performance, and acoustic levels
Test breathing-zone effectiveness versus traditional floor purifiers
Conduct user trials in real Kalamazoo homes
The first milestone:
A working, sensor-integrated prototype tested with performance data to support future manufacturing conversations.
Without funding, this remains theoretical.
With funding, Lampure becomes testable, demonstrable hardware.
What I'll Do With the Money
Phase 1: $40k - 50k help with non-provisional IP filing and initial "works like" POC prototype for user and performance testing. This includes qualitative in-home consumer research.
Phase 2: $50k+ EVT engineering validation build (safety and regulatory testing) design refinements and low volume initial tooling and soft tolling estimates.
Prototype Materials, Custom housing fabrication, filter tooling, structural components
Further Design Engineering and manufacturing prototypes
Testing & Validation Air quality monitoring equipment, decibel testing, breathing-zone airflow analysis
Branding, Investor Materials, Professional renders, video documentation, pitch materials
About the Founder
My name is Jake Meyer and I’m a Product Design senior at WMU’s Richmond Institute for Design and Innovation focused on building integrated, systems-driven consumer products. My work centers on merging form and function to eliminate unnecessary friction in everyday life. Lampure reflects that mindset rethinking infrastructure instead of adding appliances. Now is the moment to prototype, validate locally, and launch a category-defining product from Kalamazoo.