The Cloud smart lamp brings a thunderstorm to your house for $3360

Designer Richard Clarkson has created a different kind of cloud-based music. The aptly named Cloud is an interactive light and speaker that’s shaped like an angry little stormcloud. The idea is that you suspend it from the ceiling and it plays tunes and simulates a real thunderstorm inside your house. It’s neat, but this isn’t just a speaker — it’s art. How can you tell? It has a very art-like price tag of $3360.
The Cloud Smart is the version you want if money is no object. It contains a Philips LED bulb for long life and properly tuned lighting effects. The speaker system is completely hidden inside, but can be played to with any Bluetooth device. There’s a remote control that activates the Cloud and can put it in simulated storm mode when you’re not playing music. Cloud uses motion sensors in this mode to generate lightning and thunder dictated by movement. It really seems like the Cloud could benefit from a built-in Tesla coil.

For what is essentially a very fancy lamp, it does a pretty good impersonation of a storm cloud. The lightning effects light up the interior of the lamp realistically and will flash in-time with the music when it’s playing. To make the illusion more complete, there are small “satellite” add-ons for the Cloud (a mere $240 each). These small tufts of cloud-looking material aren’t speakers, but models of clouds that help fill out the virtual cloudscape.
If all you want is the look of a thunderstorm in your house, there’s a less expensive lamp-only version of the Cloud for $960. That’s still a lot of cash for replicating the sky on your ceiling. I suppose you could go outside and look up, but what are you, a caveman? It’s all for sale on Clarkson’s site.