First Look: Kelly Wearstler’s Lotura brutalist lighting

Kelly Wearstler with pieces from the new ‘Lotura’ collection

(Image credit: Courtesy of Kelly Wearstler)

Los Angeles-based designer Kelly Wearstler has shaped a formidable career, balancing comfort with drama and craft with texture, to bring appropriate levels of poetic charm to cinematic interiors. Her new lighting collection ‘Lotura’ marks an intriguing development away from architectural or even decorative lighting, towards light sources of a more sculptural nature. And when Wearstler shifts gears, the industry sits up and takes note.

The designer cites brutalism as her muse here, and it’s not hard to see why. Materiality is front and centre, with cast metals celebrated in glorious heft, constructed in intersecting forms that play with their weight, while curved edges bring a subtle softening effect. Three different finishes – blackened bronze, aged brass or powdery white – bring echoes of deco glamour. The collection comprises floor lamps, table lamps, pendants and sconces, with uplighting and downlighting options available to suit your needs and desires.

Kelly Wearstler was a guest editor of Wallpaper* in 2022, and we couldn’t let the opportunity pass to catch up with her to hear more about how ‘Lotura’ came to be.

Kelly Wearstler’s ‘Lotura’ lighting

Wallpaper*: Congratulations on such a striking collection. The brutalist mood is compelling – is this a response to the brutal times in which we are living?

Kelly Wearstler: I find there is something eternally modern and universal about brutalism – its architecture and influence now spans decades and can be found across the globe. Furniture that is composed of a single element in a brutalist form brings its texture, shape and colour to the forefront – embracing the organic and conveying the hand of the maker. Our challenge with ‘Lotura’ was bringing this to life through lighting.

W*: Tell us about the name ‘Lotura’.
KW: ‘Lotura’ is derived from the Latin root ‘lavo’ and often defined as ‘a washing’. The ‘Lotura’ collection achieves just that – a washing of light from within the traversing metal planes of the fixtures.

W*: How would you describe the character of the collection?
KW: The entire collection is composed of textural, artisanal cast metal. The uniformity is a characteristic of brutalist design – demonstrating an appreciation of materiality but also representing an instance where structural elements are favoured over decorative design.

W*: It feels as if there's a move away from background, architectural lighting towards more sculptural lighting objects – do you agree?

KW: Yes, lighting in particular holds incredible potential to blur the lines between art objects and practical design. There is a growing appreciation for strong sculptural forms – bringing forth the realisation that functional pieces can be works of art, too.

W*: Please complete the sentence: ‘Design for me means...’

KW: Celebrating the unexpected.

kellywearstler.com

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Hugo is a design critic, curator and the co-founder of Bard, a gallery in Edinburgh dedicated to Scottish design and craft. A long-serving member of the Wallpaper* family, he has also been the design editor at Monocle and the brand director at Studioilse, Ilse Crawford's multi-faceted design studio. Today, Hugo wields his pen and opinions for a broad swathe of publications and panels. He has twice curated both the Object section of MIART (the Milan Contemporary Art Fair) and the Harewood House Biennial. He consults as a strategist and writer for clients ranging from Airbnb to Vitra, Ikea to Instagram, Erdem to The Goldsmith's Company. Hugo recently returned to the Wallpaper* fold to cover the parental leave of Rosa Bertoli as global design director, and is now serving as its design critic.