Copper piping turns contemporary lighting: the twist in JamesPlumb’s designs at Gallery Fumi

In 2022, designers Hannah Plumb and James Russell of the creative studio JamesPlumb packed up their life in London and set off for the Shropshire Hills. They settled in a dilapidated old farmhouse with land and barns, offering scope for imagination and more space to work. Since the move, they have been occupied with house renovations and studio practice, each one informing and enriching the other, sometimes in unexpected ways.

For instance, it was the removal of some old copper pipework that kickstarted their latest body of work, 'Copper Roots', which is currently on show in the studio's solo exhibition, 'Rooted', at London’s Gallery Fumi.

‘Rooted’: JamesPlumb’s copper lighting at Gallery Fumi

An evolution of the studio's candlelit 'Steel Roots' series from 2019, this new collection of mesmerising chandeliers, candelabras, wall sconces, and mobiles is formed from extracted copper piping, skilfully coaxed into twisting structures. 'Often our work explores the line between the planned and unplanned, the deliberate and accidental,' explains Russell.

'On the one hand, many of the copper shapes are incidental, and on the other, there is a lot of playing with combining different shapes, where we are constantly making judgments and very fine adjustments until we arrive at compositions that feel right.’

Once used as a conduit for water, the piping now channels electricity, creating a snaking circuit that holds delicate, counterweighted lampholders. These candle-like lampholders – set with custom-made low-voltage LED bulbs that emit a gentle, Tungsten-like glow – turn on as they are lowered into locators along the copper piping circuit, bringing the structure alive with light and gentle movement.

This act of activation is almost ritualistic, imbuing the work with a sense of ceremony that’s characteristic of JamesPlumb’s practice, where each piece is as much an experience as it is an object.

'We wanted an electrical connection that in a way was deliberately fragile, but not too fragile,' recalls Russell of the lengthy development process, on which the studio collaborated with PS Lab in Beirut, as well as a former team member in London, Ali.

'There is contrast between the looseness of the forms and the materiality of the work and the precision of the engineering. While the copper shapes are fluid and the counterweights quite rough and imprecise, the technical side has involved working to engineering tolerances of fractions of millimetres.'

Instead of concrete, the rough counterweights anchoring each lampholder are made from limecrete made on site in Shropshire using a mixture of local stones, lime, and sand cast in holes dug into the ground. Russell refers to them as 'roots', likening the production process to planting – placing something in the ground as an act of nurture and transformation. ‘The title of the exhibition, “Rooted”, has a dual meaning, in the sense of the process of planting the roots of the works but also in the sense of putting down our roots in Shropshire,’ he says.

In Gallery Fumi's clean white Mayfair space, the lights are arranged in a series of mini compositions framed by lengths of mottled textile hung from the ceiling. Plumb and Russell originally bought the fabric at an agricultural auction, with the intention of using it for roof repairs. 'When we unfurled [the pieces] in the yard back at our farm, we realised that in fact they were old lorry sidings, with an incredibly rich patina lurking underneath the mud and grease,' recalls Russell. 'They needed intensive cleaning, but couldn’t be over-cleaned, or they would have lost their richness. They’ve ended up being the perfect serendipitous object to embellish the warmth of our lights.'

'Rooted' by JamesPlumb is on show at Gallery Fumi until 25 January 2025
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