Boasting ultra-sleek finishes and life-like shapes, this class of lighting designs is anything but ordinary.
Balancing Act
With successful showrooms in Los Angeles and Dallas, Garde’s newest location in New York City introduces a roster of global makers, including Paul Matter, a lighting studio based in India whose Floor Lamp Version 1 is pictured. Anchored by a cast-brass bulbous base, the lamp’s curved body is capped with a frosted glass head. Inspired by dot and line drawings, the resulting design is a seemingly weightless, floating statement piece of otherworldly familiarity. The backdrops, arches and pedestals shown throughout are painted Benjamin Moore’s Rockport Gray and Balboa Mist.
Cellular Level
For Yonathan Moore’s Spore Sconces—the shapes of which are borrowed from biological and astronomical forms—the interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. The French-Israeli designer chose a cherrywood frame to house textured, chemically-engineered aluminum foam that resembles a crystalized membrane through which warm pools of light are diffused. Moore, who has a background in photojournalism and graduated from Colombia University with a Master of Architecture, draws upon his past vocations when designing new pieces in his Brooklyn studio, where he utilizes both traditional and digital fabrication methods.
Pointed Out
Texas-based interior designer Paloma Contreras’ partnership with Visual Comfort & Co. continues to deliver timeless-with-a-twist designs. Pictured here are the Orsay Sconces—the uplight model is shown in hand-rubbed antique brass while the downlight is in polished nickel (a bronze finish is also available). The collection features a suite of styles, all of which sport Orsay’s austere and architecturally influenced lines. Like Contreras’ approach to interiors, the sconces are a chameleon in both contemporary and traditional spaces alike. The metallic wallcovering is Quilt in Chroma by Arte.
Dual Identity
For Palma’s first stateside collection, which debuted at Verso Gallery’s Hamptons outpost, the Sao Paulo, Brazil, studio set out to experiment with non-traditional materials and compositions juxtaposed against basic shapes. That concept is realized in the atelier’s Esfera Table Lamp (shown), where a sharp, conical linen shade rests atop a rounded aluminum body and stainless-steel base. Upon closer look, you’ll see the textured body is covered in aluminum candy wrappers, creating a lunar effect.
Sinuous Suspension
Behold the Dream in Calligraphy chandelier by Feyz Studio. Founder and principal Feyza Kemahlioglu found inspiration in the rich cultural history of her native Istanbul, namely the city’s ever-present Ottoman calligraphy. Viewed in profile, the chandelier’s undulating brass curves evoke the gliding lines of the written word. Its hand-blown glass globes are arranged with intricate hand-carved embellishments made from meerschaum, a claylike material traditionally used to make smoking pipes.
Serpentine Silhouette
Midcentury master Italian designer and architect Gianfranco Frattini created the Aspide Table Lamp for Gubi in 1970 (its name comes from Aspis, an antiquity term for snake). Five decades later, Gubi has reissued the piece and its reptilian shape and mirrored, chrome finish continue to resonate with the aesthetic sensibilities of today. A true desktop workhorse, the lamp’s body can be rotated into several configurations and the light source can be directed downward for reading or upward for an ambient glow. The metallic wallcovering is Quilt in Chroma by Arte.
