Wake by Tala

The Sleep Light for a Digitally Fatigued World

The Wake Light’s design and appearance is inspired by the setting of the sun.

Heatherwick Studio has joined forces with Tala, the British lighting brand renowned for its precision engineering and design-led approach to sustainability, to launch Wake, a revolutionary sleep light.

The Wake Light by Tala

Bringing together cutting-edge sleep science, natural materials and careful craftsmanship, Wake offers a serene way to wind down and wake up, using gentle light and nature-inspired sound to improve sleep routine and well-being. Crafted from hand-spun ceramic and pressed glass, Wake features a rotating tactile dial that allows users to adjust sunrise and sunset-inspired light and curated soundscapes. These range from rhythmic alphorn wake-up tones to rainforest recordings. The accompanying Tala app helps users create personalised sleep routines with intuitive design and seamless smart home integration.

The Wake is handcrafted with natural materials that invite tactility to your nightly ritual.

Thomas Heatherwick, founder and design director of Heatherwick Studio, said:

“In the realm of sleep, the digital revolution has been wreaking havoc. Instead of your bedroom being a calm, intimate place for recuperation, your entire world of messaging, news and entertainment, is right next to you, beckoning for your attention.

Wake is our attempt to re-establish the sacredness of sleep and bring back analogue calm into the digital age. It is an alternative form of bedside light and alarm, made from natural materials, that uses light, touch, and sound to rid ourselves of yet more plasticky tech devices, and instead conjure up nature to help restore sleep to its rightful place in our lives.”

The first product in Tala’s growing smart lighting range, Wake offers customers a fresh and thoughtful take on sleep technology, challenging conventional light alarm forms with a design that emphasizes aesthetics, materiality and functionality.

The Wake Light by Tala

Tala co-founder Josh Ward said:

"Light is the strongest cue for our circadian clock, yet our bedrooms and routines are often filled with disruptors. Wake draws on sleep science to simulate a gradual, biologically effective sunrise, blending warm-to-bright light with calming nature sounds. This gentle approach replaces harsh alarms and helps you wake in a natural and restorative way. It also supports low-light evening wind-downs that promote melatonin release and encourage healthier rituals around rest.

Better sleep starts with better habits. Our three-step sleep challenge encourages a regular sleep-wake schedule, removing phones from the bedroom, and reading as a nightly wind-down ritual. These small, deliberate habits, supported by Wake’s light and sound design, help retrain our bodies and minds for deeper, healthier rest."

With mental health and sleep wellness top of mind for many, Wake responds to a rapidly growing $600B global sleep market with a solution that balances design integrity, natural materials, and sleep science.

Science Meets Ritual: Wake’s Sleep Protocol

Research shows that light is one of the strongest signals for regulating our internal clock, and that evening exposure to blue light suppresses melatonin and delays sleep.

The Wake Light by Tala is designed to be the ultimate bedside light.

Wake is designed around these principles, encouraging three simple but powerful habits:

1. Set a regular sleep-wake schedule.

Wake’s gentle light fades at night and brightens in the morning, supporting natural circadian rhythms. Paired with calming audio, it creates a relaxed, screen-free start to the day.

2. Reduce phone use in the bedroom.

By replacing harsh phone alarms and bedtime scrolling with soothing light cues, Wake helps remove screens from your sleep space, reducing disruptive blue-light exposure.

3. Promote reading and wind-down rituals.

Wake’s warm, dim evening light supports quieter routines like reading before bed, replacing screens with activities proven to aid relaxation and prepare the body for sleep.

The Wake Light by Tala he sun.

Read about How Lighting Affects the Body, Mood, and Space.

About Heatherwick Studio

Heatherwick Studio is a team of over 250 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Based out of their combined workshop and design studios in London and Shanghai, they create buildings, spaces, objects and infrastructure. They want to see a world where the buildings and places around us are radically more joyful, engaging and human. The studio’s completed projects include several internationally celebrated buildings, including Little Island in New York City, the award-winning Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, Azabudai Hills district in Tokyo, and Coal Drops Yard in London. The studio is currently working on 30 live projects in ten countries. These include Hainan Performance Art Centre, a major cultural institution in China, mixed-use projects in Shanghai and Seoul, as well as new headquarters for Google in London (in collaboration with BIG). “Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World” by Thomas Heatherwick, the studio’s founder, was published in 2023 by Viking (imprint of Penguin).

About Tala

Tala was founded in 2015 by Josh, Max and William – three friends from Edinburgh University who believed great design was the fastest way to a low-carbon world. Since then, they’ve become leaders in design-led, sustainable lighting. They are proud to create lights that are gentle on the planet, make homes look great, and make life feel brighter. Headquartered in East London with a global customer base, Tala combines advanced LED technology with timeless design to create lighting that is both sustainable and enduring. The company’s collections span sculptural fixtures and precision-engineered bulbs, designed to improve mood, well-being, and the character of interiors. Specified by leading architects and designers worldwide, Tala continues to shape interiors across homes, hospitality, and cultural spaces in 80+ countries.

Sleep Science references:

[1] Roenneberg, T. & Merrow, M. (2016). The circadian clock and human health. Current Biology, 26(10), R432–R443. PMID: 27218855 • DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.011

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27218855/

Explains how natural light exposure at dawn and dusk is the strongest signal for synchronising the circadian rhythm, influencing sleep timing, mood, and metabolism.

[2] Cajochen, C. et al. (2011). Evening exposure to LED-backlit screens impacts circadian physiology and sleep. Journal of Applied Physiology, 110(5), 1432–1438.

https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00165.2011

A landmark study demonstrating that evening exposure to blue-enriched LED light suppresses melatonin and delays sleep onset.