9 minute read
Electric Light Orchestrations Incandescent
Electric Light Orchestrations
TAKE INSPIRATION FROM LIGHTING DESIGNERS, BOTH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL, WHOSE WORK IS NOT JUST VISUALLY ARRESTING BUT TRENDSETTING TOO.
The stylish hand-blown ‘pearls’ in Ian Cameron’s Helmi chandeliers hang as if caught in gold-plated nets and were inspired by a fishing trip the Finnish designer took. OPPOSITE Nir Meiri’s Veggie Light beams a focused ray onto the underside of a preserved cabbage leaf, accentuating the patterns and artistry within the natural world.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Schneid Studio’s customisable Junit pendants, Johannesburg studio TheUrbanative’s Mudziira chandelier and Utu Soulful Lighting’s Pyppe sconce all pair orb-shaped bulbs with geometric forms that subtly reference Bauhaus design; Local designer Thabisa Mjo, of Mash T Design Studio, champions the geometries of telewire plates in her newest collection.
RETRO GEOMETRIES
A renewed interest in two 20th-century game-changing design movements continues to see an array of creatives interpreting the geometric patterns these movements advanced. In 2019, the design world marked the centenary of the Bauhaus School, known for favouring linear forms at the expense of the floral motifs of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles.
Of equal interest, more so to the millennial generation for its nostalgic value, is the 1980s’ Memphis movement. Characterised by polka dots, circles, triangles and squiggly lines in both bright and pastel colours, the visual appeal of Memphis is its youthful combination of colour and form. The resurgence of this playful approach to design is an antidote to the severity of the current state of the world.
It’s apparent in Pyppe, a collection of suspension, standing and wall lamps from Portuguese designers Claudia Melo and Ana Ladeiro, both of Utu Soulful Lighting. The collection is fabricated from lacquered metal and travertine, and is a sculptural take on balancing masses.
A similar playfulness informs the designs of the Mudziira lights that form part of local brand TheUrbanative’s Homecoming collection. Winner of the 2019 Designer of the Year at 100% Design SA, Mpho Vackier’s Mudziira lights effortlessly pair Memphis design principles with an African aesthetic, including a culturally appropriate interpretation of patterned line work.
While the forms of Thabisa Mjo’s Alfred range (created in collaboration with telewire weaver Alfred Ntuli) are dictated by the shapes of traditional telewire plates, the primary colours that make up each lamp’s geometries can be seen to reference Bauhaus teachings. So too with German design duo Schneid Studio’s Junit collection, which comprises eight different elements that can be customised to suit any home. ‘The geometric shapes and intense colour palette of the Junit lights draw inspiration from the Bauhaus movement,’ says designer Julia Jessen.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Capetonian Laurie Wiid van Heerden’s passion for cork sees him repeatedly creating homeware from the natural material; bioresin created from agricultural byproducts forms the primary material in Estabished & Sons’ Aura pendants; Danish design graduate Stine Mikkelsen’s interest in organic and upcycled materials led her to design two ranges of amorphous-shaped lamps.
NATURALLY BRIGHT
The Covid-19 pandemic heightened an existing global awareness of, and movement towards, wellness in our homes. Collectively, we’re now much more attuned to the provenance and choice of materials that make up the hard and soft finishes as well as the furnishings that kit out our living spaces.
Design institutions including Central Saint Martins and Design Academy Eindhoven offer courses in material design and encourage interest in bioplastics. A graduate of the latter, Rotterdam-based Sabine Marcelis has created the Aura range for Established & Sons. Her cylindrical tubes, in pastel hues, are manufactured from a bioepoxy resin produced from byproducts of the agricultural industry.
Israeli-born Nir Meiri’s approach to eco design is more obviously visible. His Veggie Lights are an ode to cabbages, the lamps’ coloured translucency and refined form offering a contemporary take on Art Nouveau lighting. Soaked in water-based adhesives, the leaves are treated to be antifungal. ‘As with any natural material, they will “age” over time,’ Meiri says. ‘They can be returned to the earth as compost and easily replaced with a new shade, using the same base.’
Danish designer Stine Mikkelsen also designs with recycling in mind. The organic forms of her Luminous Shapes range are handmade from a composite of crushed granite and fish glue. ‘Depending on the mixture, I am able to crumble or simply apply the material to the structure and sand it for various textures,’ she says. Similarly, she forms her Guilt.Less range by hand by sculpting shredded recycled clothing.
On home ground, Laurie Wiid van Heerden of Wiid Design is known for his innovative and pioneering use of cork, an entirely natural material that biodegrades without producing toxic residues. His African Cork Pendants, with their colourful geometric forms (equally a nod to the geometric trend), are produced in Cape Town from organic, recycled cork particles.
TRANSPARENCY
One need only look at Cameron Design House’s Helmi chandeliers to understand the statement-making impact that illuminated hand-blown glass can have. Long recognised as a convergence of art and craftsmanship, hand-blown glass (along with the translucencies of resin) is enjoying a resurgence in design. Be it opaque, transparent or coloured, the ambience that lit glass affords a room is one way to introduce artisanship into a home. Raised in Finland, Ian Cameron’s Helmi (‘pearl’ in Finnish) chandelier was conceptualised during a fishing trip, each chandelier a ‘catch’ of glass pearls and gold-plated nets.
More tailored to the constraints of residential interiors, the Shembi Chandelier, designed by Greg and Roche Dry of Durban’s Egg Designs, offers an equally impressive play of metallic and glass. The concentric rings of recycled glass in shades of amber and green have an understated and retro elegance.
Colour and a nod to the past are also the defining elements in the creations of Los Angeles-based Lulu LaFortune. Having previously worked with celebrity designer Kelly Wearstler, LaFortune describes her own studio as ‘a brand dedicated to designing your next heirloom’. She’d like to see ‘fast homeware’ eschewed in the same way fast fashion is increasingly being shunned, and proposes her limited-edition Watts Table Lamp as one possible solution. Its stained-glass lampshade and trellis-inspired base are an entirely modern interpretation of lamps familiar from bygone times.
Belgium-based Mexican architect Adrián Cruz’s Elements lamps reference his own past. They marry his architectural sensibilities with the resin objects his grandfather once made. ‘When I was a child, I used to play with these objects, fascinated by the translucency and the three-dimensional illusion that light creates through resin,’ he says. Cruz pairs coloured crystal resin with onyx, the latter having a history of use in religious adornment in pre-Hispanic Mexico.
By illuminating coloured glass in their designs, Durban-based Egg Designs’ Shembi Chandelier (top) and Lulu LaFortune’s Watts Table Lamp (above) both offer an ambient and atmospheric glow. BELOW Mexican architect-turneddesigner Adrián Cruz loves resin’s translucent properties and combines the material with onyx in a collection of statement-making table lamps.
CERAMIC IMPERFECTIONS
Our collective interest in the handmade shows no sign of abatement. While designers will always push the boundaries of technological advancement to further new forms of creativity within their work, others increasingly embrace the principles of wabi sabi by championing irregularity. Deliberate imperfection speaks to the past rather than the future. This nostalgia has obvious appeal at a time when global perceptions of the future are fraught with uncertainty. In a post-pandemic society in which we reevaluate social interaction, introducing the human touch into our homes is comforting and enhances our sense of wellness.
It is this that the handmade works of Dana Castle and Michele DeHaven of Crosland + Emmons pay homage to. ‘We want our lights to feel slightly uncomfortable, as if they were unbalanced,’ says Castle of the duo’s white porcelain and stoneware lamps – part sculptural objects, part mood lighting. There’s a visual fragility to their work, with forms reminiscent of weatherworn bones and shells.
London-based Zhekai Zhang also works with white porcelain. He collects used coffee grounds (otherwise destined for landfills) from local roasteries. Using these as a glaze on his Coffire lamps, Zhang celebrates the randomness and irregularity of the patterns that result from his modern take on ancient Chinese pit-firing techniques.
Kiln-fired bricks – the sort widely used in the building industry – are the basis of Katy Taplin and Adriaan Hugo’s Brick lamps. The founders of the internationally acclaimed Johannesburg-based Dokter And Misses, the conceptual-minded duo wryly comment on mass production with four etched designs that together spell ‘love’.
There’s whimsicality to the works of New York ceramicist Yuko Nishikawa too. Having previously crafted collections for Anthropologie and Calvin Klein Home, from her Brooklyn studio she now sculpts lamps like those of her You See A Sheep and Nico And His Cousins collections, both playful celebrations of the uniqueness of handmade lighting. t
OPPOSITE AND TOP New Yorker Yuko Nishikawa adds an additional layer of personality to her already quirky lamps, You See A Sheep and Nico And His Cousins, by hand-shaping them. MIDDLE Similarly, the Crosland + Emmons design duo love the imbalance in their Lilly Stack Multilight that results from hand sculpting. BOTTOM Sophisticated in form, Zhekai Zhang’s porcelain pendants are decorated with a randomly applied coffee-grounds glaze. ABOVE Locals Adriaan Hugo and Katy Taplin elevate the humble building brick in their Brick tabletop lamps.
