With the launch of two new lighting collections, Lindsey Adelman reaches for something out of this world
The celebrated lighting designer may be marking 20 years in business, but, creatively, she's just getting started
If Lindsey Adelman has learned one thing in her 20 years of business, it’s to embrace the creative process. That’s why, after rising to prominence as one of the most famous names in American lighting design via her near-ubiquitous – and oft-copied – ‘Branching Bubble’ chandeliers, she’s chosen to shake things up.
‘I always kind of fall into a similar formula, which is usually like very slender brass tubing and things that are very delicate,’ Adelman tells Wallpaper* in her New York studio. ‘This time, I thought about how I could tap into a different side of my practice – to make it more chaotic.’
The result is two new lighting collections that debuted in Paris and in Los Angeles, ‘Andromeda’ and ‘Illuminated Mobiles II’. While they differ in their materials, form and physical presence, the new work showcases Adelman’s appetite for shaking things up.
‘Andromeda’, a lighting system of chandeliers and sconces, has the feeling of meteorites that have landed on Earth, thanks to exploded geometries of intersecting planes and icy, comet-like glass diffusers. Adelman spent hours creating foam core models to get the compositions – which range from smaller, 26-inch sconces to six-foot horizontal chandeliers – just right. But there is also freedom in how the end user might suspend them: ‘When you hang it from a different side, it turns into a different light, so we’re actually going to offer that,’ the designer says.
‘Andromeda’ comes available in metallic finishes, including burnished brass, bronze and silver, but a custom option is clad in marble veneer, milled to be just a millimetre thick, giving the chandelier a gravity-defying brutalist quality.
‘Illuminated Mobiles II’, now on view at The Future Perfect gallery in Los Angeles, is decidedly more delicate, made from ethereal metal rods and blown-glass orbs. It’s a continuation of a series that the designer launched in 2023 and plays with ideas of mysticism and language. The glass diffusers, for instance, feature intricate symbols and glyphs. ‘I was trying to get beyond words for communication,’ Adelman explains. ‘It’s trying to capture another way of connecting with people. It also feels like dipping into something primitive.’
Some mobiles have delicate, jewellery-inspired chain fringes; others have crystals delicately balanced on horizontal elements. ‘A lot of them are for protection or to encourage intuition,’ Adelman explains of the glittering minerals. As with ‘Andromeda’, the designer created miniature models with string and tape to resolve the balance of each piece. Once installed, each chandelier unhurriedly rotates as unseen breezes blow across it.
Adelman’s success can be attributed to something invisible, too – intuition. ‘This is the studio’s 20th year, and actually 30 years since I graduated from RISD. Over the years, we’ve been able to offer all these different aesthetics, or moods, really,’ Adelman reflects.
‘I feel like I am always following a craving.’
