The Original 315 Desk Lamp – Navigation Edition is a little different from other Anglepoise desk lamps. Its compact shade, bright GU10 spotlight and integrated working accessories have all been designed with a particular purpose in mind: to provide focused, directional task lighting for people who spend their time thinking, making and doing.
It is the brightest and most directional Anglepoise desk lamp to date, but the reasons behind its design go much further back. The Navigation Edition has its origins in a specialist Anglepoise project from the 1940s, when a version of the Original 1227 was adapted to illuminate navigators’ chart tables aboard long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
More than 80 years later, we’ve returned to that idea of a lamp as a working tool and considered what it could mean for the modern desk.
From Navigation Tables to Modern Desks
Project 315 appears in original engineering drawings held within the Anglepoise archive. Developed during the 1940s, it was a specialist adaptation of the Original 1227 created for a very different working environment from the desks, studios and homes where Anglepoise lamps are commonly found today.
The original lamp was designed to illuminate navigators’ chart tables aboard long-range maritime patrol aircraft. During night-time operations, navigators needed to be able to read charts and work accurately, so the light needed to be directed precisely onto the task at hand.
When we returned to Project 315, the intention wasn’t to reproduce an archival design simply for its historical significance. Instead, we looked at the thinking behind it. The original existed because somebody needed a practical tool to help them work, and that principle became the starting point for the Navigation Edition.
Today’s work might take place over a sketchbook, model, manuscript or computer rather than a navigation chart, but the need for good task lighting remains much the same. The new Original 315 takes the purposeful character of its predecessor and re-engineers it for contemporary creative work.
Designed for More Focused Task Lighting
The most significant difference is the light itself.
The Original 315 uses a 7W LED GU10 spotlight producing 600 lumens, making it the brightest Anglepoise desk lamp to date. Its 38° beam works together with the compact 7cm diameter shade to concentrate the light over a defined working area.
This creates a different lighting experience from a desk lamp designed to cast light more broadly. The higher-intensity, directional beam is particularly useful for work where visibility and precision matter, whether you’re reading fine detail, drawing, working with materials or concentrating on something directly in front of you.
The bulb is positioned high within the 12cm shade, helping to reduce glare while retaining the intensity of the light on the work surface. The included LED has a warm 2700K colour temperature and a CRI of 90, providing good colour rendering while keeping the quality of light comfortable for everyday use.
Why a More Directional Desk Lamp Matters
Good task lighting isn’t necessarily about illuminating as much space as possible. For certain types of work, concentrating light where it is needed can be much more useful.
A directional desk lamp creates a defined working area, allowing you to position a stronger pool of light over a notebook, book, drawing or detailed task without unnecessarily illuminating the whole room. This was fundamental to the original Project 315, where navigators needed light over their charts during night-time operations, and it remains central to the new Navigation Edition.
The familiar Anglepoise spring mechanism allows that pool of light to be repositioned as you work. With a maximum reach of 66cm from base to shade, the lamp can be moved across a working area while its 15 x 15cm base keeps its footprint relatively compact.
Rather than making reach a feature in itself, the combination of movement and directional illumination is what matters. As your attention moves around the desk, the light can move with it.
A Desk Lamp Designed Around the Way You Work
Lighting was only part of the thinking behind the Navigation Edition. The practical nature of the original Project 315 also prompted us to consider what else a modern working lamp could do.
For the first time on an Anglepoise desk lamp, the base incorporates four discreet mounting points for accessories. Each Original 315 comes with a polished metal pen holder and notebook clip, together with a blueprint-blue notebook and matching pencil.
The accessories can be configured around the base according to how you prefer to work, keeping the things used to capture ideas close to hand without taking over the desk. The notebook can sit alongside the lamp ready for notes, sketches or thoughts, while the dedicated pencil holder gives the included pencil a permanent place within the workspace.
These details are deliberately simple. They extend the purpose of the lamp without adding unnecessary complexity and reflect the practical thinking that informed the original navigation light.
What Makes the Original 315 Different?
Rather than one feature defining the Original 315, its character comes from several elements working together. The concentrated light, compact shade, adaptable arm and integrated accessories have all been developed around focused work.
| Feature | Specification | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| GU10 LED spotlight | 7W, 600 lumens | Our brightest desk lamp light to date, providing strong illumination for detailed tasks |
| Directional beam | 38° beam angle | Concentrates light over a defined working area rather than spreading it broadly |
| Compact shade | 7cm diameter, 12cm height | Works with the spotlight to deliver a focused, higher-intensity beam |
| Higher bulb position | 2700K, CRI 90 | Helps minimise glare while providing warm light with good colour rendering |
| Replaceable GU10 fitting | Included bulb has a 15,000-hour life and is non-dimmable | Gives you the flexibility to use compatible alternative colour temperatures, step-dimming bulbs or smart lighting |
| Anglepoise spring mechanism | Maximum reach of 66cm | Makes it easy to reposition the focused light as your work moves around the desk |
| Compact base | 15 x 15cm | Provides stability without taking up unnecessary working space |
| Integrated accessories | Four mounting points | Allows the notebook clip and pencil holder to be configured around the way you work |
| Included creative tools | Blueprint-blue notebook and matching pencil | Keeps somewhere to capture notes, sketches and ideas close at hand |
| Cable | 250cm | Provides flexibility when positioning the lamp within a workspace |
Together, these features give the Navigation Edition a distinct purpose within the Anglepoise collection. It has been designed around concentrated task lighting and the practical needs of people who spend time making, thinking and working at their desk.
Who Is the Original 315 Designed For?
We describe the people the Original 315 is made for as modern navigators. That includes designers, architects, artists, writers, makers and anyone else whose work involves finding a way from an initial idea to something more resolved.
The term is deliberately broad. Creative work rarely follows a straight line, and much of the process happens while testing ideas, making adjustments and working through problems. The Navigation Edition has been designed for those periods of concentration, including the late evenings when a project has your full attention and you find yourself burning the midnight oil.
Its features support that process in practical ways. The directional beam helps define the area you’re concentrating on, the articulated arm allows the light to be repositioned as the work changes, and the integrated notebook and pencil provide somewhere to record an idea when it arrives.
There is an obvious connection here with the lamp’s history, but it isn’t intended as a literal comparison between today’s creative work and the job of an aircraft navigator. What carries across is the design principle: creating a useful, dependable tool around the needs of the person using it.
Heritage Reimagined for Modern Work
The visual character of the Navigation Edition retains that sense of purpose. Its polished aluminium shade sits against a matte black arm assembly, with silver engineering details left visible rather than hidden. The result has a more tool-like quality than the gloss finish associated with the Original 1227, while remaining recognisably Anglepoise.
More importantly, bringing Project 315 back has allowed us to revisit a piece of our history through use rather than nostalgia. Instead of reproducing an archival lamp as a historical object, we’ve taken the principles that informed it and adapted them for how people work today.
The Original 315 Desk Lamp – Navigation Edition is consequently more than a reference to a chapter in the Anglepoise archive. Its brighter, more directional light and integrated working accessories give it a distinct purpose within the current collection, designed for people who value concentration, thoughtful engineering and tools that earn their place on the desk.
Like every current Anglepoise lamp, it’s also Guaranteed for Life, designed to stay alongside the work for years to come.
