Paul Cocksedge designs Gravity Chandelier for Moooi

A render showing Paul Cocksedge's Gravity Chandelier for Moooi, a design featuring black curved arms hanging from the ceiling over a spiral staircase. In the background is a large scale gray curtain and a green armchair is on the floor below — (Image credit: TBC)

Inspired by chandeliers of the past, British designer Paul Cocksedge has created the ‘Gravity Chandelier’ for Moooi, a piece of lighting design defined by a flexible, curved form that’s shaped by gravity.

It’s the latest chapter in a long series of collaborations between Cocksedge and the Dutch brand, and follows the 2016 ‘Compression Sofa’, impressively carved from a single block of marble. ‘Moooi always puts creativity at the forefront,’ says Cocksedge. ‘What I love about the partnership is that ideas are brought to life in the best possible way, which is a designer’s dream.’

A render showing Paul Cocksedge's Gravity Chandelier for Moooi, a design featuring black curved arms hanging from the ceiling. The chandelier is installed in an imaginary room with glass walls separating the space from a desert and rocks

For this piece, Cocksedge wanted to create ‘a re-engineering of the traditional chandelier: I wanted to re-examine something that’s a very familiar part of design history, but instead of following in the footsteps of classic, heavy, crystal chandeliers, I wanted to create something much lighter, and with more movement’. Instead of the static, weighty design generally associated with chandeliers, Cocksedge created a flexible, lightweight hanging structure. ‘It allows people to fill spaces and voids without the drama of suspending a heavy light fixture,’ he says.

‘We had been developing the idea for “Gravity” in the studio,’ he recalls. ‘Although it was, in some ways, a simple concept, the challenge was in finding the right kind of electrical, flexible material that would give us the beautiful lines we were looking for. I spent years picking things up in markets and in second-hand shops around the world, finding anything that I felt could be suspended and add a lovely curve. Eventually we had a breakthrough, and that was when we took the idea to Moooi.’

A render showing Paul Cocksedge's Gravity Chandelier for Moooi, a design featuring black curved arms hanging from the ceiling in a taupe-coloured room with an arched door, a side table made of stone and glass and a leather sofa

The most important component of the design is an embroidered sleeve with an electrical connector woven within, something that took years of experimentation in the workshop for Cocksedge and his team. The right materials allowed for the perfect flowing arches that enable users to compose the chandelier in a series of arrangements (the chandelier is available in two options, with five or seven arms). The pressed glass ‘cups’ at the end of each arm are developed to create a magnified, sparkling light, and attach to the ceiling thanks to discreet wiring.

‘Moooi and Paul Cocksedge go way back,’ says Moooi CEO, Robin Bevers. ‘We love him as a friend, and we are thrilled to be working with such an inventive and interdisciplinary designer as Paul. Both our vision of what is extraordinary and what resides on the edge of art and functionality is very much alike. This made for a very smooth and natural collaboration. His “Gravity Chandelier” is testament to that.’

INFORMATION

Gravity Chandelier by Paul Cocksedge for Moooi, from £1379
moooi.com
paulcocksedgestudio.com

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.