For Federico Stefanovich, mimicking nature literally in design misses the point: there’s much more to gain from this vital source of inspiration than just surface level floral patterns or leaf motifs. The Mexican talent – a 2025 Wallpaper* Ascending Star – goes deeper and finds clever ways to evoke the anatomical structures intrinsic to plant and animal life.

Presented by Mexico City’s Ago Projects gallery, Stefanovich's latest collection, Salina, stems from close observations of aquatic organisms – the vast morphology of shells and carapaces beneath the ocean’s surface. Stefanovich has interpreted the essential osseous qualities of these natural elements in the formation of collectible lamp and table designs.

‘Rather than reproduce these references literally, the collection reinterprets them through an abstract lens, seeking to capture the delicate balance between fragility and strength – the rigidity and organic fluidity that characterizes many forms of marine life,’ Stefanovich says. ‘Rather than looking primarily at existing design references or typologies, I tend to begin with structures, behaviours and relationships.’

For Stefanovich, sand-cast bronze is the best process and material to authentically capture the skeleton shapes that keep shells together. 'This process allows me to create intricate yet robust forms – limbs and branches – that can remain hollow and accommodate electrical components when necessary,' he adds.

On top of his interest in natural systems, the designer is also fascinated by the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary technologies. ‘Much of my work involves moving between handmade processes and digital tools, each informs the other,’ says Stefanovich. ‘Discovering new materials and exploring their possibilities is an important part of the process, as is finding ways to celebrate the traces of making rather than conceal them’.

Fibreglass was chosen for the lampshades because of the material's balance of precision and unpredictability; air bubble imperfections resemble the irregularities one might find on a shell’s surface. Shaped in 3D-printed moulds, the semi-translucent material is ideal for diffusing light. When illuminated, the complex-curve forms reveal all of their textural variations. ‘One material feels skeletal and dense, while the other appears lighter, translucent and almost organic,’ he says. ‘Together they create a tension that becomes central to the collection.'

That’s especially true in the table designs in which Stefanovich attempted to push the limits of asymmetry. 'I’m deeply interested in the engineering dimension of design. Balance, structural logic, assembly and weight distribution are often as important to me as the visual outcome,' he explains.

Stefanovich's solutions are both functional and expressive, allowing the way an object supports itself or comes together to become its identity – just as Mother Nature would have intended.

It has been 11 years since Ilse Crawford launched her first collaboration with Ikea, marking a new chapter in the Swedish retailer's relationship with independent designers. Called 'Sinnerlig', the collection of cork and natural-fibre homeware translated Crawford's human-centred design approach into products available at Ikea's scale, and scooped her a 2016 Wallpaper* Design Award in the process. While some pieces from that first collection remain in production – including the popular bamboo pendant lamp – many sold out quickly, becoming collectors' items that now command several times their original price on resale sites.

Now, Crawford revisits the partnership with ‘Halgatt’, a pair of table lamps made from ceramic, linen and brass. Rendered in the earth-toned materials Crawford describes as 'classic', the designs embody the visual warmth and tactility that have long been hallmarks of her work.

One comprises a white stoneware block with a matching linen shade – square and architectural, tone-on-tone. The other pairs a dark cylindrical ceramic base with a beige linen shade. Both feature neat brass dimmer switches on their side. It’s the sort of understated design that you can imagine fitting into any interior, which, as Crawford explains, was her intention.

‘When I design lamps, I want them to bring warmth and life to a room,’ the designer reflects. ‘The challenge is to capture a classic's qualities – the right proportions, choice of materials and shade, and a timelessness that makes the lamp always feel relevant. My inspiration for “Halgatt” comes from how we live our lives. The lamps have a versatility that supports the decor rather than dominating it – and are just as suitable in the living room as in a dining room, a bedroom or a work area.’

Crawford, who began her career as the founding editor of Elle Decoration before establishing Studioilse in London, has built an international reputation for designs that prioritise human experience. From furniture collections and homeware to hospitality projects including Cathay Pacific's acclaimed airport lounges, her work is guided by a belief that good design should support everyday life through care, comfort, trust, soul, dignity, generosity and resourcefulness.

Writing in Wallpaper's February 2025 issue, Crawford reflected on these values: 'We believe that design is a tool for building new and better models for life and living. In the studio, we think about how we can “elevate the elemental”, by which we mean prioritising the tactility of the things we touch daily, optimising natural light and celebrating natural materials to support humane experiences.'

The Ikea x Ilse Crawford ‘Halgatt’ collection is available online and in UK stores, with the beige/brown ceramic lamp retailing at £35 and the white ceramic lamp retailing at £25.

British designer Lee Broom has received a lot of milestone calls over his career. Beginning his creative tenure in the fashion world by interning for Vivienne Westwood, he’s spent the last 20 years crafting award-winning light pieces and luxury furniture with his eponymous design brand, exhibiting from Milan Design Week to Mexico City. In 2020, he collaborated with Beyoncé, providing a minimalist yet striking gold Hanging Hoop Chair that sat central to her 2020 visual album Black Is King. Yet for Broom, who first endeared himself to Westwood by creating a fantasy costume for Madonna in a junior design competition and has now contributed his own bespoke piece to the pop superstar’s newly-released Confessions II film, there are few calls like one from the Queen of Pop.

'The 15-year-old me is doing cartwheels in their bedroom, for sure. I was thrilled. Growing up, I really appreciated her artistry not just as a musician but as a visionary, a spokesperson for LGBTQ+ rights, and an all-round blueprint for the pop industry,' he tells Wallpaper*. 'I grew up in theatre and then went into fashion, so performance, art, fashion, design all infiltrated my work. An artist like Madonna who has a sort of performative storytelling, pushing-the-envelope quality to their work – I was completely sucked in.'

Broom was contacted by Madonna’s production design team back in February, inquiring about potential products that could be utilised for 'a top secret project with a very famous artist'. Later, he was sent a storyboard showing the expansive concept for the film, which takes viewers through the pop icon’s forthcoming Confessions II album via a series of interlinked rooms and vignettes. In the section dedicated to new song One Step Away, Madonna is featured in a slick, hard-edged kitchen. For the scene, it’s a bespoke adaptation of Broom’s 2015 Crystal Tube Light that illuminates the image.

The original Crystal Tube Light is a cut-glass, handcrafted piece that was previously featured as part of the designer’s 2015 Milan show, The Department Store. 'I designed a number of crystal light fixtures with this idea of creating industrial lighting products and combining them with the sort of decorative cut glass that you would get in decanters or whiskey glasses,' he explains. 'Laurie Walters, the art director for the Confessions II film, really loved the piece because the setting that it's in is a very contemporary apartment with art deco references, and this light fixture is very much that. They wanted something elongated that could hang above the kitchen island unit and create this sort of linear vision in shots in the background.'

In order to fit the brief for the video, which demanded a longer, two metre version of the piece, Broom set about designing prototypes from his East London studio. 'My product development team looked to find ways that we could increase the overall scale of the piece. We kept the tube formation diameter exactly the same, but we connected elements together and changed some of the crystal cuts so that it worked as a pattern on a much larger scale,' he explains. Bringing in hand-cut glass from the Czech Republic and assembling the object in Barking, the featured scene was then shot on location elsewhere in London. 'I quite fancied delivering the items myself, disguised as a delivery guy. But no, that wasn't the case,' Broom jokes. 'Everything was very secretive and locked down.'

For Broom, who has always looked to mediums beyond design, working with a global superstar such as Madonna offers a chance to bring his work into the frame of popular culture. 'When you talk specifically about the design industry, it's a very loose, open word, but it's actually very specific: it’s furniture, product, industrial design, perhaps interior design. It's restricted in a way, and I feel like the general public who aren't in that industry sometimes find it difficult to connect with what we're producing,' he suggests. 'So when you have an opportunity to insert your work and your vision into something as globally iconic and as popular as a Madonna music video or film, it opens it up into a different ether that people aren't used to.

He continues: 'My own work as a lighting designer and a product designer is in a commercial space, but I love the avant-garde and I feel like if you can allow those two points to meet – the commercial and the art – then that’s a really interesting tipping point that’s sometimes difficult to get right. But when you look at an artist like Madonna, that idea epitomises some of their work.'

Later in the year, Broom will begin work on his 20th-anniversary show in Milan, with more collaborative projects also in the pipeline following his recent projects with Lladró and Fendi Casa. For the designer’s childhood self, however, there’s likely to be few things as memorable as his Confessions II contribution.

'For my 16th birthday, I remember getting my mother to buy me Madonna’s SEX book,” he chuckles. 'She got her friend Audrey, who worked next door to Waterstones, to queue up in the morning and buy it, neither of them knowing exactly what the content of the book was. It was literally the best birthday present I've ever had, even though she wasn't so happy when she actually got to see what was inside…' From superfan to collaborator, it’s yet another milestone to tick off in Broom’s illustrious trajectory.

On 8 May 2026, Michael Anastassiades announced that he is closing his eponymous lighting brand. 'After 20 inspiring years, the time has come to close the chapter of my lighting company, Michael Anastassiades, a platform for communicating my personal vision in lighting and introducing innovative ideas to the market,' he wrote in a note shared to his network.

The brand made its debut in 2006, as Anastassiades had started creating objects and lighting for his London home, and quickly became known as the master of lighting design. He has since expanded his lighting output, through a long-term collaboration with Italian lighting company Flos.

'What began as an open-ended experiment grew organically into a body of work that reflects a deeply personal journey,' continues the designer. 'Through this broad exploration of ideas, I created an eclectic brand, a model inspired by creative visionaries in history who committed themselves to the exceptional fabrication of objects. Over the years, it became a space where ideas could evolve freely, shaped by curiosity, experimentation, and rigorous practice, and led to invitations for meaningful collaborations across the design industry.'

Among the company's best known pieces is the Tube Chandelier, which also marked the brand's debut, the Mobile Chandeliers, and the Tip of the Tongue collection, where an illuminated sphere effortlessly sits on the cusp of a brass base.

'I am proud to see how these designs have found their place in both private and public spaces around the world,' he says. 'What comes next for me as a designer is a deeper focus on the creative process, and the freedom to explore new directions in design, in all its forms.'

The studio's operations, including the production of limited edition furniture and lighting, as well as design collaborations, will continue as normal.

A sample sale is planned in London between 14-16 May 2026, 115 Old Street, London EC1V 9RT.

michaelanastassiades.com

Watch: at home with Michael Anastassiades

Last year we visited Michael Anastassiades' home as part of our 'Stuff That Surrounds You' series. Watch the film below

After a decade of absence, Baccarat makes its grand return to Milan Design Week, debuting a starry collaboration with Bethan Laura Wood, who took the crystal brand's classic ‘Zénith' chandelier as her starting point. Conceived in the mid-19th century, this ingenious composition of crystal elements and diamond bevel-cut tassels continues to be one of Baccarat's signature pieces.

Wood's take on the ‘Zénith' sees her deconstruct and reassemble it into a vertical modular system, based on a series of star-shaped metal supports suspended on steel wires that ‘hover like spaceships'. The metal elements become the frame for a playground of crystal forms and colours, based on both traditional codes and new shapes. ‘The goal was to create a system that allowed different-sized chandeliers to be made,' says Wood. ‘I wanted to play with the rules of how a traditional chandelier is built, keeping the language of baroque but interpreting it in a way that's more minimal and abstract.'

Incorporating elements sourced from the Baccarat archives alongside Wood's own research, the result feels like a visual explosion. The arms of the chandelier, which traditionally face outwards to support the light sources, form part of a horizontal structure and connect to two turquoise crystal elements (a pinched diamond-shaped lozenge and a more elongated one), which hold the light bulbs. The frame is covered in an array of prisms, octagonal shapes and flowers, in both clear crystal and a dreamy palette of olivine, parma violet, turquoise and amber, while, at the top, a round mirrored panel replaces a traditional rose, to emphasise the chandelier's explosive effect. ‘I wanted a big mirrored plate because it helps you get this feeling of a vortex,' says Wood. ‘When you're looking up at the chandelier, it reflects in itself to make this kind of endless cascade.'

The chandelier will be available to order as a single ring (‘quite minimal for Baccarat', concedes the designer) or as a multiple-ring composition for a dynamic, cascading effect (there's no actual limit to the number of rings you can order). Other designs include two wall sconces, both of which include the mirrored backing and the pinched diamond lozenge, as well as some of the floral elements. ‘The mirrored backplate gives a feeling of lightness,' she says. ‘The sconces are pushing this baroque aesthetic, but they're also modern and space-age, and look a bit like bugs: a few different references to let your fantasy go wild. I like that they work well as single pieces, but can also be combined to create a more dramatic composition.'

Completing the collection is a series of candleholders, featuring crystal flowers and petals in elegant colour combinations, with pink powder-coated steel bases. ‘I wanted to keep in certain details that were signifiers of Baccarat, but not be completely bound to the fact that everything had to be within traditional coding,' she says. ‘I think Baccarat has a long history of really letting designers and creatives push their language.'

The designs will form part of ‘Crystal Crypt', a sci-fi-inspired experience devised by artist and curator Emmanuelle Luciani, who viewed Baccarat as ‘a temporal bubble, a vessel-cathedral of unique craftsmanship'. On show during Milan Design Week, the experience – which Luciani describes as ‘a total artwork, blending movement, film, scenography and sound' – is inspired by the church of Saint-Rémy, in the town of Baccarat, and the work of American science fiction writer Philip K Dick (the installation is named after one of his short stories). Creating a space that exists somewhere between past and future bears testimony to how Baccarat continues to skilfully use creative collaborations to reinvent historical craft through a contemporary lens.

‘Crystal Crypt' is on show from 21-25 April 2026 at Via Marco Formentini 10, Milan, baccarat.com

Follow all the latest news from Milan Design Week 2026 with our editors’ live blog

‘I like thinking of light as a volume, almost as if it were liquid being poured into different containers – rooms or fixtures within rooms,’ says Omer Arbel, founder and creative director of Canadian lighting brand Bocci. It’s a description that makes perfect sense upon visiting ‘Light as Medium’, the latest installation at the brand’s apartment showroom in Milan, which opened yesterday for the city’s annual design week (see our live blog for all the latest news from our editors on the ground).

For the occasion, the residential space has been transformed into a sequence of immersive encounters, where sheet and hand-blown glass forms glow in the darkness like planets in a night sky, cascade from the ceiling or are arranged en masse to spellbinding effect. ‘My role is to offer some sort of poetic interference – thickening the atmosphere, as it were, so it catches the light in a particular way. It has a mysterious impact on people’s emotions, light does.’

Here, that thinking unfolds as a kind of spatial laboratory, where light is used to probe perception and emotion. The showcase is the second collaboration between Arbel and curator David Alhadeff, founder of American design gallery The Future Perfect. This more abstract, immersive format marks a clear departure from last year’s more conventional display – where pieces were presented within a series of furnished interiors alongside works by Orior and Christopher Farr – into something more architectural. ‘At its core, Bocci is about research and design,’ says Alhadeff. ‘Omer Arbel is one of the truly important designers working today, consistently pushing the limits of what’s possible.’

For Alhadeff, the shift away from conventional display allows that experimental spirit to be felt more directly. ‘I’ve become increasingly focused on how design is experienced, how it can shift perception and challenge expectations,’ he continues. ‘Working at the scale of space, rather than object, opens that up in a much more compelling way.’

‘Light as Medium’ presents entirely new work developed from Arbel’s material studies and realised through Bocci’s studio framework, alongside existing series that have been reimagined. In the bathroom, every Bocci catalogue piece to date is brought together and finished with a silver coating. The mirrored surfaces collapse these varied forms into a single reflective column, tracing the evolution of the Bocci catalogue.

‘It’s like looking through a microscope at water from a tidal pool and discovering that it’s full of life, an entire ecosystem of creatures interacting,’ says Arbel. ‘I feel the same sort of surprise and wonder when I look at it. Besides being a diary of all the different things we’ve ever made, each one with its own story, the piece somehow transcends them all and has an entirely unexpected presence of its own accord.’

In the hallway, an installation titled ‘147 Wave’ comprises 200 illuminated sheets of glass, each loosely folded and varied in tone and form. The pieces gather into a continuous wave that pushes out from the wall and lifts towards the ceiling, turning the corridor into a luminous passage. ‘Early on, I was interested in using this presentation to explore scale and create something more architectural with Bocci,’ explains Alhadeff. ‘Omer proposed curving the pieces into the opposing wall, and by introducing a mirror, it transforms into this expansive archway you move through. It’s simple, but incredibly elegant, and it captures exactly what I hoped we could achieve this year: not just presenting an object, but expanding people’s sense of what Bocci can do.’

For Alhadeff and Arbel, both established voices in their own right, the collaboration has developed into a productive exchange. ‘I see my role, in part, as a challenger,’ says Alhadeff. ‘I ask questions, test ideas, and often push against assumptions. That dynamic could easily create friction, but instead it’s been embraced by Omer and the broader Bocci team. It’s made the process more rigorous and, ultimately, more collaborative, allowing the work, and our relationship, to evolve in a meaningful way.’

bocci.com

For German designer Konstantin Grcic, the technical and poetic sides of lighting design are inextricably intertwined. So when working to recreate the glow of the moon for Nocturne, his latest creation for Flos, he knew exactly how to approach it. ‘The reference to the moon is not a stylistic idea, it’s more about a certain type of light: present but not harsh, both directional and ambient at the same time,’ he explains.

The principles guiding the design were clear to Grcic, and included ‘focused light, diffuse light, and the additional glow of the glass body itself.’ The result is a lighting object featuring an extruded aluminium stem and blown borosilicate glass shade (a cone or a dome) casting both a high-performance focused light and creating an ethereal atmosphere. Although Grcic stresses that the idea of Nocturne didn’t start as a system, it quickly developed into a family of designs that includes a floor lamp defined by a vertical track supporting one or more diffusers, as well as suspension wall-mounted versions.

The new family of lighting designs follows Grcic’s 2019 Noctambule collection, and it’s the latest in a series of pieces created for the designer during his 27-year collaboration with the Italian lighting company.

‘I started working with Flos in 1999 with the Mayday lamp, which is still in production today: It’s a very straightforward object, built around a standard bulb,’ observes Grcic. ‘Since then, the collaboration has evolved quite a lot, mainly because of the shift to LED technology. With Mayday, the light source was given. With more recent projects like OK or Noctambule, we design the light source itself first – the engine – and then develop the lamp around it. So over time, the work has become more integrated and more technical, but the aim is still the same: to make useful, well-resolved lighting.’

Ikea and Raffaella Mangiarotti unveil two new floor lamps as the latest addition to their collaboration. The Swedish furniture brand first partnered with the Milanese industrial designer in January 2025 on the ‘Bäcknate’ lamp collection. Now, Mangiarotti delivers two statement lighting designs, ‘Mossplym’ and ‘Trådnate’.

Discover Raffaella Mangiarotti’s new lamps for Ikea

The designs stand alone and are quite distinct, yet what remains consistent is a high-quality look partnered with accessible pricing. Mangiarotti designed both lamps as sculptural pieces, to command attention rather than to blend in.

‘The new lamps combine an uplight and a reading light – a dual function that often results in two elements that feel artificially joined,’ says Mangiarotti. ‘It was important for me to bring something beautiful into a residential space, combining two functions rooted in Nordic design principles without compromising aesthetics.’

Both lamps are designed to create an ambient glow while also having the focus of a task light. The ‘Mossplym’ is made from solid oak, blow-moulded glass and Italian white Carrara marble. It offers a light or dark oak stem, which sits on a marble base. The glass shade is softly rounded, imitating the form of a flower blossom. This is completed with a smaller, adjustable lower shade for users to direct light where needed.

‘Trådnate’ is more angular, with an architectural form. This is inspired by Mangiarotti's industrial designs, influenced by the geometry of nature. It has two parallel structural supports, each holding an opaque shade, casting light in opposing directions.

While Ikea's designs are rooted in Scandinavian simplicity, these two new additions mark the brand's lighting shift towards a more international, shared contemporary design language.

Mangiarotti’s partnership with Ikea is a long-term collaboration, with additional lighting pieces in development. Her debut collection, which comprised a table and floor lamp with an orchid-like form made from folded paper, was nominated for the Compasso d'Oro, Italy's oldest and most prestigious design award.

Says the Milan-based designer, ‘I've always had a passion for lighting, and it's a dream to be able to combine different functions and typologies of light – with the kind of global reach only accessible to Ikea.’

‘Trådnate’, £50, coming soon; ‘Mossplym’, £70, available now from the Ikea website or in store.

In Yoruba, the word for light is Ìmólè. A term that reaches well beyond illumination, encompassing hope, ancestral presence, the arrival of guidance, and the quiet dispersal of darkness. What it holds is both visible and intangible. Toluwalase Rufai and Sandia Nassila of Salù Iwadi Studio begin from this layered knowledge. They shape a collection in which light is treated as something inherited, held, and passed forward.

The Gèlèdé Lamp Collection is the pair's most concentrated statement yet and the most bodily. Where their earlier work moved through space (the Zangbeto Side Table's layered fins evoking ritual guardianship, the Water Basin Totem's monumental ecology), this work moves inward. Into the vessel and into the womb. When Wallpaper* named Rufai and Nassila Future Icons, and featured them in our January New Gen issue, we wrote about a practice grounded in the improvisational nature of African contemporary design, and design as a vessel for uniting past and future. The Gèlèdé Collection not only illustrates that idea but also inhabits it.

The Gèlèdé tradition is a public Yoruba ceremony of recognition, a formal, collective act of honouring the metaphysical authority that elder women hold over life, fertility, and communal continuity. Women are understood as the generative and regulatory centre of the world: custodians of Ìmólè, through whom hope and destiny are carried and introduced.

Rufai grew up within this framework. 'Over time, especially with the increasing westernisation of daily life, this understanding has become less visible and less commonly held,' she explains. 'For me, the work became a way of returning to that knowledge, not as nostalgia, but as a living framework.' Nassila, who comes from Madagascar and the Comoros, arrives at the same conviction through different geography: matrilineal systems in Madagascar, matrilocal authority in the Comoros. 'Celebrating the power of mothers is not an abstract concept to me,' she says. 'It is something lived.'

The point where their two histories converge, one Yoruba, one Malagasy and Comorian, is precisely where the studio operates most fluently: at the intersection of distinct African cosmologies that return, again and again, to the same centre of gravity. The female form and the maternal authority.

The three lamps, GLD01, GLD02, and GLD03, are composed of ovoid carved oak vessels that represent the womb, the calabash, and the orí: the Yoruba concept of the head as the seat of destiny. Each is pierced by sand-cast brass spirals that compress and filter light, releasing it outward with what the studio calls 'measured intensity.' The granular surface of the brass, embedded with the memory of earth, references the darkness of gestation and roots the objects in Ayé, the Yoruba realm through which life, ancestry, and cosmic force circulate.

The shapes are closed, weight-bearing, and deliberately opaque. 'The womb and the calabash are spaces that protect, regulate, and transform what they hold,' Rufai and Nassila explain. 'That thinking shaped the geometry directly. The light needed to feel interior, gradual, and discovered.'

GLD01 presents three vertically aligned vessels: ancestor, mother, and child. Temporal continuity made upright. GLD02 draws that lineage inward into a single vessel, dissolving generational distinction into continuous, interconnected presence. GLD03 brings the philosophy into intimate scale, closer to the body, yet retaining 'its full conceptual weight.' Together, they do not describe a progression, but reiterate a single philosophy through variation.

The collection is handcrafted between Lagos and Marrakesh as an argument for what happens when distinct craft inheritances are asked to meet inside a single object. In Lagos, the brass is sand-cast: raw, heat-marked, carrying what the studio calls 'traces of the hand, of heat, of imperfection.' In Marrakesh, the wood is carved with a precision that centuries of tradition have made almost instinctive, controlled where the brass is restless, exact where it breathes. 'The act of casting and the act of carving,' the pair say, 'are inherited ways of making that carry knowledge within them.' The object that results belongs to both cities and neither, which is, perhaps, exactly the point.

'What matters to us is the meeting of these gestures,' the pair say. 'The act of casting and the act of carving, these are inherited ways of making that carry knowledge within them.' Working across territories within the continent is, for Salù Iwadi Studio, not logistics but ethos: an insistence that the richness of African design comes precisely from the broad and diverse range of craft knowledge that exists from one coast to another. The dialogue between those traditions is itself a creative act.

To call these objects' lamps' is technically accurate but somehow insufficient. Rufai and Nassila cite Louis Kahn when asked about the line between sculpture and design: 'A great building is not made of walls and ceilings; it is made of light and space, and the citation lands not as decoration but as precision. In this studio, shaping light is equivalent to shaping form.

'We began to see light as living matter,' the pair explain, 'something that could be held, guided, and shaped. In this context, it became a reflection of the life within a child and the power of mothers to nurture that life from the very first moments.' Each lamp holds light as a mother holds a child: containing it, shaping it, governing how it is experienced. Feminine authority governs not only how life is brought into the world, but how meaning, luminescence, and future are held and gradually released. The lamps become the argument.

For a studio that has always treated materials as storytellers, this denotes a clear inflexion. The Patewo Chair and Zangbeto Side Table declared a design language; the Water Basin Totem made it monumental. The Gèlèdé Collection turns it inward, into the intimate scale of the domestic object, the night-time object, the one that governs not how a room looks but how it feels to exist within one after dark.

Rufai and Nassila describe the collection as complete in itself but porous, a point on a longer continuum. 'The uncovering of our heritage is a continuous process,' they say. 'Future projects may take different forms beyond light, continuing to investigate the ways cultural memory and presence can be expressed through material and form.'

In a design landscape where provenance is frequently deployed as surface, culture as aesthetic, heritage as trend, Salù Iwadi Studio is doing something categorically different. They are not borrowing from tradition. They are in an active, accountable relationship with it: returning knowledge that has become less visible, giving it new material form, and placing it in the home as both an object and a quiet pedagogy. 'The work becomes both lived with and learned from,' the pair say, 'quietly operating as a reminder and an educational tool for how we once understood and structured life.'

Each light insists that design holds the capacity to preserve memory, embody meaning, and articulate identity. The light in these vessels does not just illuminate a room; it carries something forward. That is the difference between a lamp and a statement. Salù Iwadi Studio have made a statement.

Davide Groppi‘writes with light’, claims Marco Sammicheli, the curator of a new exhibition by the lighting designer and entrepreneur, at Volumnia, a church-turned-gallery in Piacenza.

‘Un’ora di Luce’ (One Hour of Light, on view until 26 May 2026) reveals stories and a number of curiosities about Groppi’s roots and methods. In the documentary projected on a wall, he declares himself a country boy – he grew up, works and still resides in Piacenza, a small city located an hour from Milan in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

Davide Groppi: a language of light

‘I like to work with the purity of light,’ says Groppi. This concept and his interest in art and the cosmos is reflected in the first of the exhibition’s five sections, each presented as a utopia.

We travel like navigators into the world of ‘Notte Africana’, while with ‘Quasi Luce’, Groppi plays with contrasts of pink and blue: they shouldn’t work together, but Groppi and his lights perform magic. ‘Questa non è una Lampadina’ celebrates the simple functionality of traditional lightbulbs, and ‘Il Grande Blu’ is a sea of emotion you could almost drown in. ‘Le Foglie e il Vento’, meanwhile, was a challenge he set himself: to construct something light and luminous; the result is a pentagram, layered by a designer who has mastered the art of simplicity.

‘Umasi’, a new lamp that can be raised and lowered vertically, is defined by an elegant aesthetic language. ‘I wanted to create a light with a lampshade that was new, not like the typical form,’ he explains. ‘One that I could have next to me while I’m sitting in an armchair,’ he explains.

The new shade is made out of paper and takes inspiration from Japanese lamps: there are three separate sheets that almost meet to form a baseless trigonal prism. Groppi admits to being obsessed with paper, one of several fixations, and he used the same material for his ethereal ‘Moon’ light (the piece makes a dramatic first impression at the threshold of the deconsecrated church). The functionality of ‘Umasi’ is deliberate: ’It was important to ensure that it can be as useful as possible,’ Groppi says.

On top of a Gio Ponti sideboard sits a new limited-edition lamp called ‘Vera’ (meaning ‘real’). Made from glass, the wide mouth narrows, funnelling down onto an amaranth-coloured cylindrical base. Despite the name, it plays on the idea of illusions; a holographic lightbulb effect is triggered when the lamp is switched on. It isn’t real. ‘It’s not solely a light, but a decorative piece,’ Groppi explains.

Towards the end of the exhibition, ‘TaO’ lights are anchored from the building's lateral columns, forming a wide V shape and highlighting items including Carlo Scarpa’s mirror for Venini on a central table.

Volumnia owner Enrica De Micheli’s midcentury furniture appears throughout, complemented by Groppi’s own work. The heart-shaped ‘Rail’ light is affixed onto a rear wall, while floor lamps (like the sleek ‘Mia’) sit beside two Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia chairs for Domus Nova. ‘One Hour of Light’ is a monographic exhibition that demonstrates that Groppi not only writes but also paints with light. This presentation of almost four decades of work at Volumnia is truly illuminating.

‘Un’ora di Luce’ is on view until 26 May 2026, Volumnia, Stradone Farnese, 33, 29121 Piacenza, Italy

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.’

For his ‘Gambosa’ table lamp for Spanish brand Marset, Mathias Hahn played with balance, geometry and colour. Made of three steel components, the lamp’s base, stem and shade seem to float effortlessly on top of each other, the warm glow of the light source gently bouncing off their emboldened silhouettes.

The lamp is conceived as a system, its elements combining to form a lighting object that reflects a user's or space's identity. The lamp shade comes in opaque pale pink or black, providing direct light, or in opal methacrylate for a softer, diffused glow. The stem is available in orange and moss grey, while the base comes in a stone-grey finish.

Despite creating lamps based on a rigorous technical lighting principle, Marset is known for not shying away from colour, and the 'Gambosa' is a perfect interpretation of how bold hues can be combined with sophistication into a modern design gesture.

For Marset, colour is also a way to explore new production ideas, as in the case of its popular 'Dipping' lamp. Based on a glass sphere featuring colour bands, it results from experimenting with repeatedly dipping a lit light bulb into paint.

Meanwhile, the work of Hahn, a London-based German designer, is defined by an interplay of curved lines and a minimalist aesthetic. His forms are studied to complement the human body, in the case of furniture, or to create a harmonious experience, in the case of objects. A strong focus of his practice is longevity, with objects conceived with the idea of being easily disassembled and their parts disposed of.

This is also true for the ‘Gambosa’: Hahn chose universally available sockets, allowing users to select and easily replace their preferred light source, and the electric cable is attached to the top rather than base, so that the lamp can be easily disassembled, packaged and repaired.

London-based Michael Anastassiades makes objects that feel built to outlast the moment, anchored in mechanical logic, as if each piece has been engineered for calm permanence. Yet within that rigour, something quietly lyrical takes hold, turning precision into poetry. Take the ‘Mobile Chandelier’, conceived in 2008, for instance,the longest-running and most celebrated design in the Michael Anastassiades collection. The design’s enduring success, year after year, has inspired the studio to commission a new film and photographic shoot by Alexandros Pissourios, exploring the remarkable craftsmanship and handmade precision behind each piece.

Watch: the making of Michael Anastassiades' ‘Mobile Chandelier’

Film by Alexandros Pissourios

‘The Mobile Chandelier started as an idea to create a light structure with multiple sources of light, which could be moved around freely, creating different arrangements,’ shares the designer on what gives the piece its rare longevity. ‘I wanted the arms holding the various elements to balance perfectly and to be able to experience this delicate sense of equilibrium. I was imagining a chandelier with a gesture similar to the mobile sculptures by Alexander Calder, only where individual arms would carry electricity and the balancing elements at the ends of each arm would glow. The experience would start at the place of assembly, with the idea that the customer could feel the delicate balance when installing the light.’

The piece also carries a reference to nature, as if glowing planets or satellites are quietly orbiting on different axes.

Filmmaker Pissourios, who lives and works between London and Cyprus, explores the possibilities inherent in 16mm film and analogue cameras, blending ethnographic approaches with experimental cinema. Here, he turns his lens to the tiniest processes and technicalities behind the making of the iconic chandelier, showing how even its design and assembly feel, in their own quiet way, are nothing short of magical.

The film showcases a conversation between the strength of materials and human precision that coaxes the chandelier into life. Each ‘Mobile Chandelier’ is composed as its own entity, made of roughly 200 handcrafted components in patinated brass. In a Devon workshop, a highly trained team assembles every piece by hand, adjusting and re-adjusting until the whole settles into harmony, made more delicate still by the minute weight differences inherent to mouth-blown opaline glass. ‘The idea behind mouth-blown glass is that it can never be replicated perfectly, neither its exact diameter nor its weight,’ explains Anastassiades. ‘So the maker requires a jeweller’s or a watchmaker’s precision in [their] process. There could have been other materials where an exact match was achieved to the milligram, but I like the idea that these elements could have been given or found objects.’

The film also lingers on the final act: we watch the brass being hand-patinated, in the signature faded black, and the more expressive earthy red developed as a deeper, warmer counterpoint. These surfaces, along with a spectrum of other colours are brought to completion by a specialist in a south London workshop, where colour is treated not as coating, but as character. In these moments, the film reveals the ‘Mobile Chandelier’s quiet complexity: the slow labour behind its lightness, and lasting elegance that has secured its place as a modern design icon.

‘Through this film I wanted to communicate the idea that even if an “exact” multiple, this is an entirely handcrafted object that is put together by a small team of highly skilful artisans,’ says Anastassiades. ‘That each piece is unique as the balancing act of putting one together is never the same, the precision in its making is one closer to jewellery rather than a large-scale sculpture and the customer will be able to appreciate the unique way these pieces are made.’

British designer Lee Broom has filled a grand villa in Mexico City with more than 50 lighting works, creating an immersive experience of sculptural, theatrical illumination.

Opening to coincide with Mexico City Art Week, and lasting until 10 April 2026, ‘The Resident’ sees Broom’s designs installed throughout the rooms of a historic home belonging to Diez Company, a leading Mexican lighting design firm. Situated in the upscale neighbourhood of Polanco, the 1920s, three-storey villa has been transformed by Diez Company into an airy yet characterful showroom for the brand, as well as special design events like these.

The company, which has represented Broom’s brand in Mexico for many years, suggested the designer do a takeover of the villa. 'I thought it would be a really amazing opportunity to showcase my work,' says Broom, who carefully studied the setting in anticipation. 'I got a sense of the architecture of the building and what pieces I thought would resonate in what rooms. The idea was to create a fairly classic gallery presentation with a slight residential feel.'

The curated selection of works features works from the last 12 years, including the Hail chandelier, the Chant Portable Lamp, and pieces from the Requiem, Overture and Cascade series.

The Hail chandelier, newly crafted for the installation, cascades down the villa’s central atrium, an elegant array of glowing vertical lines against a grand, curved staircase.

Nearby, works from Broom’s Requiem series are hand-sculpted in plaster to resemble draped fabric. Poetic and intriguing, they gently trick the eye while inviting closer inspection. 'I love surrealist art and surrealism in general,' says Broom. He developed the technique behind the works when studying fashion at Central St Martins in London. 'I used to make corsetry and bodices out of plasterwork with fabric, and I wanted to revisit that with light fixtures,' he explains.

The art of trompe l’oeil and the motif of drapery is found also in the Overture collection, Broom’s first-ever wallpaper collaboration with Calico Wallpaper. Installed in a top-floor room overlooking the city, the work transforms the walls into theatrical yet restrained illusions, its visual cues blending surrealism with classical sculpture. As Broom explains, he was inspired by his background in theatre as a child actor. 'Some of my earliest memories are the scenography of the stage and the drapery – and the scenery that is painted to give that depth of field.“

Set against the atmospheric wallpaper are works from Cascade, Broom’s porcelain lighting series for Lladró, bringing a touch of Japanese modernism.

The recently launched Chant Portable Lamp – Broom’s first portable design – is found in a dramatic golden installation in the tiled bathroom, that Broom describes as 'nightclubbish'. A cube of hand-blown glass surrounds a glowing spherical lamp, all sitting on a base finished either in brushed gold, silver or bronze. The design, which draws inspiration from 1970s-era architectural glass blocks, provides a modernist counterpoint to the classically inspired details of the house.

In celebration of Mexico City Art Week, and the country’s rich creative culture, ‘The Resident’ also includes artworks by Mexican artists and designers, curated by Lee Broom to have 'resonance' with his own pieces. In the central atrium lies the geometric Amazones chair in travertine marble by local studio Ayres, its sculpted lines in dialogue with those of Broom’s wall-mounted square Pantheum light placed above.

A room with Broom’s large circular Aurora Ring chandelier is complemented by a hanging sculpture of celestially inspired concentric rings with marble fragments, by sculptor Karian Amaya. In another room, a geometric assemblage of Broom’s Orion lights plays off a solid wood and brass room divider by Simón Hamui.

It is Broom’s debut exhibition in Mexico, but one that feels a long time coming. As the designer explains: 'Although I’d never been to Mexico City before, I’ve been really inspired by it from afar – the architecture, the history of art, the materiality here.' Now, his works are in direct engagement with those inspirations.

The Resident by Lee Broom is on view until 10 April 2026

Campos Elíseos 136, Polanco V Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11560 Ciudad de México, CDMX

Bic Cristal, the world’s best-selling ballpoint pen, turns 75 this year, and to celebrate the anniversary of such an icon, Seletti has recreated its legendary form into a larger-than-life lamp.

The Bic Biro: a timeless design icon

Perhaps best known as the Bic Biro, the pen has been ubiquitous since its launch, with a clear, hexagonal plastic case and bold cap. Its manufacturer, Société Bic, revealed in 2006 that it had sold more than one hundred billion pens in the object's history, and the pen is also part of the permanent collection of MoMA.

Its story began in 1930, when Hungarian-Argentine inventor László Bíró conceived the ballpoint mechanism after seeing some children playing with marbles – the lucid spheres leaving a trail that inspired the ball and ink combo.

The ingenious creation caught the eye of Marcel Bich in 1944, and after acquiring the rights to the design, the French entrepreneur invested in innovative Swiss technology to create a stainless steel one-millimetre sphere to replicate Bíró's original idea in a seamless, effortlessly flowing writing instrument.

From writing instrument to lighting tool

'At Seletti, we have always played with the concept of memory-driven design, placing people’s personal memories at the centre of the objects we create,' says Seletti art director Stefano Seletti. 'With “Bic Lamp”, we transform a universally and instantly recognizable shape that lives in everyone’s memory, into something completely new.'

The new ‘Bic Lamp’ replicates the pen at a 12:1 scale, and features floor, pendant and wall versions that honour the writing tool's most recognisable shades of black, red and blue.

The new collection is a great example of Seletti's pop spirit – the Italian brand has always been successful at playing with the domestic vernacular while mixing it with new energy and ideas.

'This project ties into our way of approaching lighting design, with innovative and unconventional concepts. The “Bic Lamp” is the perfect example of how an icon can be reborn to illuminate our homes and our memories.'

‘Varmblixt’, Sabine Marcelis’ cult, donut-shaped lamp for Ikea, returns in a new guise. Available from April 2026, the newly reimagined ‘Varmblixt’ features a smart update that includes colour-shifting and dimmable light.

The now-iconic lamp was first launched in 2022, as a way to explore 'the idea of how lighting functions within the home', Marcelis said at the time. Part of a wider collection that included lighting designs as well as glassware, the original ‘Varmblixt’ features orange glass and the option to be used as a table or wall lamp (this version will remain part of Ikea's catalogue once the new lamp is rolled out).

‘Varmblixt’ goes smart: discover Sabine Marcelis’ reimagined lamp for Ikea

The new lamp features a matte glass finish with light changing in colour to create different atmospheres within a domestic interior. Using Ikea's Bilresa remote, users will be able to control the light's chromatic palette, with a range of 12 hues curated by Marcelis.

Colour is at the core of the designer's oeuvre, and this project showcases her penchant for delicious pastels as the light seamlessly moves from a cool white to glowing amber, warm red, soft pink, cool lavender and turquoise.

'We spent a lot of time fine-tuning the transitions between the curated colours,' says Marcelis. 'What makes this lamp unique is that switching between colours is not a sudden change, but a very smooth journey through all the hues to get to the next colour. The light slowly moves through colour to, in turn, transform the colour of a space.'

A high-tech interpretation of the design, the new ‘Varmblixt’ also connects to the Ikea Home Smart app through the Dirigera Hub, allowing full control of the light's shade and intensity.

'The focus this time was on what more we could explore within the iconic form of the donut lamp,' says Marcelis. 'Colour variation is one part of it, but at its core, “Varmblixt” has always been about how you experience light. In the original donut lamp, external light played on the glossy surface and bounced beautifully off it. With this version, the matt finish lets the light glow softly from within. It’s a very natural, technical evolution of how light can be experienced.'

'“Varmblixt” [...] has always been about the emotional aspects of light and Sabine's way of shaping atmosphere,' adds Chiara Ripalti, Ikea's lighting product developer. 'With these new versions, we expand that idea with updates that let people explore emotion more freely.'

As Ikea continues its mission towards a technological home (having recently introduced 21 products compatible with universal smart home standard Matter), it also announced a new, tech-based collaboration with Marcelis to be unveiled in 2027. Watch this space.

As the days get shorter and the afternoons darker, we seek solace in the warm illumination of small lamps for our tables, desks or bedsides. Compact companions to tide us over the gloomier months, they are new designs from some of our favourite contemporary creatives, or newly reissued classics from design legends. Either way, these expressive new table lamps are on our winter wishlist.

Best new lamps for winter 2025

‘KD28’ by Joe Colombo, for Kartell

‘Hoop’ by John Tree, for Vaarnii

‘Rumee’ portable lamp by Gabriel Tan, for Louis Poulsen

‘Fire’ by Grau

‘Press’ table light by Tom Dixon

‘Cilia’ table lamp by David Pompa

Baku Sakashita’s lighting exists on the precipice of furniture and art. The Japanese lighting designer – who founded Studio Baku in 2018, exhibited during Designart Tokyo the same year and was also featured in Wallpaper’s Graduate Directory – blends traditional Japanese craftsmanship with contemporary design to create sculptural, beautiful pieces.

His latest collection, ‘Haku’, takes this artistry to new heights. On display at Tokyo Midtown Design Live until 5 November 2025, ‘Haku’ is composed of dozens of fine, delicate silk threads, each cast in subtle shades using natural plant-based dyes, a process undertaken by Suzuka Sakashita. This choice embodies Sakashita’s approach of reinterpreting Japanese traditions – here, the ancient art of plant dyeing, historically employed in kimono making.

Each colour within the collection carries a narrative tied to the places and relationships involved in sourcing the dyes: the blue comes from Kusagi berries harvested in Kyoto, the grey from shirakashi (Japanese white oak) branches, and the pink from akane (madder root). Beyond rooting the collection in Japanese heritage, these elements underscore the environmental benefits of plant-based dyes, which often make use of materials that would otherwise be discarded and minimise ecological impact.

In ‘Haku’, the light emanates from ultra-fine LEDs delicately woven within the silk threads, delivering the contemporary touch characteristic of Sakashita’s work. The fixtures, meanwhile, are crafted from hand-polished stainless steel, providing a sleek, industrial contrast to the fragility of the silk.

Sakashita’s work is marked by a poetic minimalism that caught our eye back in 2018 with the Suki collection, which reinterpreted Isamu Noguchi’s classic ‘Akari’ lamps through suspended geometric forms crafted from tengujō-washi paper and wire frames, casting intricate, shifting shadows. In ‘Haku’, as in his other collections, Sakashita invites us to experience the beauty of tradition reimagined through a modern lens. His pieces tell stories – of nature, culture and craftsmanship – reminding us that the boundary between object and artwork is wonderfully porous.

If there’s one object that encapsulates the spirit of the 1960s – and later the 1990s, when it saw a resurgence in popularity, making it a nostalgic staple of millennial childhoods – it’s the lava lamp. Now, its manufacturer, Mathmos,is unveiling a 2025 iteration of the beloved classic in collaboration with Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis. This marks the third partnership between the brand and the designer (who has previously created a yellow and a burgundy lava lamp) and introduces two new editions: a giant 296cm ‘Column Lava Lamp’ and a pale green re-edition of the 1963 ‘Astro Lava Lamp’.

Sabine Marcelis’ tall order of a lava lamp

Inspired by Marcelis’ vision of floor-to-ceiling light sculptures, the ‘Column’ lamp is pure psychedelic whimsy, reimagined at an architectural scale. ‘I always wanted to design a giant lava lamp,’ says the designer. ‘In my very first meeting with Mathmos, I imagined creating a room filled with towering lava lamps. That dream is now becoming reality.’

Standing nearly 3m tall, the ‘Column’ features a slender frosted glass cylinder housing the hypnotically slow-moving lava blobs. The result is a luminous, fluid sculpture that feels both nostalgic and futuristic. It’s available in three candy-hued colourways: Bubblegum (pink), Peach (light orange), and Honeydew (light green). Each lamp is made to order, with customisable height specifications.

Mathmos and Marcelis are also bringing back the original ‘Astro’ lava lamp in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces, each finished in the Honeydew shade. The ‘Astro’ was the very first model, created in 1963 by British inventor Edward Craven Walker, drawing inspiration from an era captivated by emerging technologies and space exploration. The reissue showcases Marcelis’ trademark frosted glass, a custom hand-filled Honeydew lava blend, and a matte mint-green aluminium base and cap.

Marcelis and Mathmos reimagine the lava lamp in striking new forms: a space-defining sculpture and a collectible reissue of the model that started it all. A classic reborn for design lovers and 1990s kids alike.

Both editions will be available worldwide, exclusively through Mathmos’ website. The ‘Astro Lava Lamp’, priced at £170/€200, will launch at midday on 23 October 2025. The ‘Column Lava Lamp’, priced at £8,500/€9,500, will launch at midday on 24 October 2025.

When electric light first entered the home, it revolutionised how we lived – though it came tethered by unsightly wires and often a harsh, unflattering glow. As technology has evolved, designers have been edging closer to recapturing the warmth and magic of candlelight – from softer LEDs that are easier on the eyes, to convenient rechargeable lamps that can be carried from room to room like lanterns.

Last year, Canadian lighting company Bocci ventured into this growing field with the launch of 14p, a portable iteration of its much-loved 14 Series from 2005. The compact glass light glows with a candle-like softness, marking a new chapter for the studio best known for its sculptural, hardwired installations.

'Improvements in battery performance, light quality, and control have opened new opportunities to approach our work with greater freedom,' a brand spokesperson told Wallpaper*. 'We’re now able to design pieces that maintain the same quality of light and material integrity as our wired systems, while extending the ideas behind them into more flexible contexts.'

Now Bocci continues that exploration with 118p, a wireless version of Bocci co-founder Omer Arbel’s 2023 118 series. Each delicate orb is formed by blowing molten glass into a reusable steel cage. As air is introduced, the glass expands to fill the open spaces within the framework. Heat keeps it pliable while gravity draws it downward, creating elongated contours and feather-like impressions – subtle ‘stretch marks’ that record the moment of its making.

‘The 118 is the result of a process where glass and form interact,’ says Arbel. ‘The mould guides the shape, but the material’s response – its flow, stretch, and texture – defines the final object. The portable 118p captures this process in a single sphere, with each light recording its own making.’

Hand-formed in Bocci’s Vancouver studio, the swirling surface of each piece is totally unique. The 118p is available in clear (US$1,000), bronze, grey and green (US$1,300).

'The launch of 118 as a portable light continues our exploration of how our ideas can exist beyond fixed installations,' the brand spokesperson explained. 'As our second portable piece, it reflects an interest in light that is not bound to a place, a work that can move, travel, and shift between interior and exterior spaces while remaining true to the material thinking from which it originates. '

The 118p launches today via bocci.com

Flos presents a reissue of Tobia Scarpa's 1963 ‘Seki-Han’ lighting design, featuring a distinctive wooden shade that encapsulates the designer's ability to bridge technical and poetic thinking.

‘Seki-Han’: Tobia Scarpa and Flos

Many themes come together in Scarpa's original plan for the floor lamp, including his fascination for naval design and his expertise with wooden structures. The name itself nods to the Scarpa family's fascination with Japanese culture, something young Tobia shared with his father Carlo. 'These stimuli were always present in our home, and I was curious about many of the topics I heard my father discuss at length with his friends from a young age,' Scarpa told Wallpaper* 'His interest in that world is particularly tied to the value of quality in traditional products, which is deeply rooted in the image of this lamp's production. Even the name, “Seki-Han”, is a very complicated word that carries a profound meaning, linked to traditional festivals, a ceremonial dish prepared to celebrate good luck.'

The original design was as simple as it was ingenious: a tubular lighting source partially shaded by two wooden blades joined by chromed metal fittings.

‘The reissue allowed us the opportunity to present a more thoughtfully detailed object, in terms of both technology and performance,' says Scarpa. 'By increasing the length of the light source and the overall height of the lamp, it was possible to provide a greater amount of light compared to the first 1963 version. The mobility of the thin wooden blades directs the light into different configurations depending on its use and position in space.'

Flos is no stranger to innovating its catalogue while looking at its illustrious lighting designs past. Works by Achille Castiglioni, Paolo Rizzatto and Gino Sarfatti have not only stood the test of time, but have also been updated over the years to become more sustainable and, in some cases, offer a bolder aesthetic expression.

The same is true for ‘Seki-Han’: the new edition replaces the original Douglas fir with ash wood, cut with an advanced CNC-milling machine in Northern Italy and treated in a way that dries the wood fibres, preventing warping over time.

Meanwhile, the two wooden blades that define the design and were fixed in the original model have now been re-engineered to move and rotate independently thanks to a fastening system. This allows the light to be modulated in different ways – and not necessarily symmetrically. When completely closed, the blades let through a thin slice of light, contributing to the object's visual poetry.

'With the new technology, you can achieve a much better light with smaller tubes,' says Flos CEO Piero Gandini, who had discovered the design in the company's archives and worked closely with Scarpa to recreate it and update it. 'So you have more space to allow the structure to move.

'We also made it a little bit taller, to avoid giving the feeling of it being a reading lamp, which it is not,' he continues. 'And we changed the base, because the original concealed an electromagnetic ballast, which you don't need today, so we did a flat iron base.'

Scarpa's work in lighting design has been closely tied to Gandini's experience in his family's company. 'The first design I ever worked on was with him,' he recalls, nodding to ‘Pierrot’, a postmodern lamp featuring a copper frame, from 1991.

For the reissue, Scarpa and Flos also developed the design into a suspended light, which recreates the refined language of the original for a new functionality.

As with all Flos contemporary reissues, the tubular light source was replaced by a slim, dimmable and warm LED tube developed especially for this design.

For Scarpa, this ability to work flexibly across products and manufacturing eras is typical of Flos and its more than six decades in the field. 'Whenever we had to study a product, an idea emerged, how to make it, and the company's response quickly allowed us to define it and accept it as it was, because it was properly analysed and well made,' he says. 'It has always been a continuous research effort, as it still is today.'

Floor lamp and suspension lamp, €1,650 each, from flos.com

Ikea’s Allen key has become an unlikely source of inspiration. The humble tool, while an Ikea furniture-assembling necessity, is rarely centre stage. Now, the Swedish furniture giant brings it to the forefront with its new ‘Ödleblad’ pendant lampshade, a flatpack design with a sculptural edge.

‘Ödleblad’ is the new Ikea lampshade inspired by Allen keys

Ikea designer David Wahl took on the challenge of designing the piece. Wahl is known for his expressive shapes, and makes sure efficiency is a priority of his designs. This isn’t limited to choosing the right material for the project; he also hones in on form and construction, to minimise waste right from the start.

The biggest obstacle Wahl faced was to design a flatpack lampshade that stays clear of excess material and also seamlessly connects without fittings. He settled on a birch veneer to make the interlocking pieces, which are shaped like an Allen key.

‘The Allen key is usually something hidden away in a drawer, but it’s one of the most quietly influential objects in our history,’ says David Wahl, designer at Ikea. ‘With “Ödleblad”, I wanted to let it step forward into the light as a sculptural centrepiece. It’s my homage to a tool that has shaped how people bring Ikea into their homes.’

Wahl continues, ‘The Allen key shape is brilliant, because with its specific form, we get precision-cut parts with minimal waste. The entire sphere is held together by its own geometry. There’s no need for extra fittings, which is a smarter way to use materials and a really satisfying way to build something.’

Although an Allen key is very simple in its design, the new lighting piece is far from it. It's composed of 60 identical parts, with interlocking pieces, all shaped like the tool. It is only natural, for Ikea, that the luminaire comes flatpacked. However, if the thought of clicking together 60 pieces seems rather testing, know that “Ödleblad” comes in five modules, each made up of 12 pre-assembled parts. These subsequently slot together to form the complete 60-part sphere.

When the lamp is turned on, the shade offers a soft and subdued glow. It's a playful tribute to the helpful, yet frustrating, little tool, and funnily enough, no Allen key is required for assembly.

ikea.com

Jony Ive's LoveFrom and Japanese company Balmuda unveiled the ‘Sailing Lantern’, a new portable lighting object born from their first collaboration and mutual admiration.

Precisely engineered and crafted by Balmuda's team in Tokyo, the design originated from Ive's quest for a lantern for his sailboat. 'I have been sailing since I was a little boy, and when you are on the water, your connection to nature and the elements is so clear. I think there's something about using a lantern in these extreme conditions,' he told Wallpaper*. 'I was surprised that I couldn't find something that could survive in extreme maritime conditions.'

His design is quietly familiar, with a silhouette recalling vintage Fresnel lamps – although Ive was careful to create a design that wasn't nostalgic. 'The reason this feels familiar isn't because we took elements that previously existed. The reason it is familiar is humanity and ingenuity.'

Encased in a precision-machined stainless steel frame is a polished, textured glass module that conceals an LED centre. The shine on the materials and the precision with which they are refined make the 1.5kg object look like a piece of jewellery.

‘It’s not precious,’ Ive is quick to point out. And as he takes the lantern and casually throws it around between his hands, the object comes alive and reveals itself not as a delicate piece of decoration, but as a utilitarian, precisely engineered tool where beauty is a consequence of a rigorous manufacturing process.

As with all LoveFrom designs, every element is carefully considered from an aesthetic and experiential point of view. The flower-shaped dial gently clicks as the lantern is turned on and off, and the lanyard is made from textured polyester that can resist salt, sun and oil, fixed in place with a corrosion-resistant stainless steel button. ‘The lantern will scratch. And over time, I actually think that it will look better and better.’

The design is a reflection of the experience of sailing, of the elements at play, the sense of movement and, of course, the light. Ive wanted to honour that experience, with something 'that feels similarly truthful and elemental. If you hold it, it just feels right. And with the movement on a boat, it feels so alive.'

LoveFrom and Balmuda

Ive is clear that what really made this project is the collaboration with Balmuda, more than his own design. 'As I've got older, who I work with has become far more important than what I work on,' adds Ive.

The Japanese company was founded by Gen Terao in the early 2000s, with a 2003 design of a cooling platform for Apple Macintosh laptops widely considered as the design that kick-started the sequence of events that turned a personal mission into a global brand. Today, Balmuda straddles precision engineering and minimalist design – comparisons to Ive's Apple era have been a constant in the past decade, as the Japanese company has released minimally modern appliances that range from a toaster oven to an elegant electric kettle.

Ive had been observing Terao’s work, regularly visiting Balmuda’s Tokyo store. 'There are all these diverse products, but they all expressed the values and care of a person, and there was a clarity and a truthfulness that I thought was really striking,' he recalls. 'So more important than [making] a lantern, it was the opportunity to be able to collaborate.'

'When Jony came to me with the idea of this lantern, I found it really romantic,' says Terao. 'Combining this nautical idea with the contemporary technology of LEDs, I just got the impression that he wanted to create an excellent tool. And we are tool makers.' What followed were 'a very hard couple of years' in which the Balmuda team developed Ive's idea. 'The level of precision and polish that he wanted was something I'd never come across before,' Terao recalls. 'So my team had to learn as we went along, and it was a very valuable experience for us.'

Nature informing light

Terao's team had already worked on a portable lantern, which became the starting point for the collaboration's lighting element. And the light given by the ‘Sailing Lantern’ is both precise and poetic: as the dimming dial is turned on, the low light starts with a pink-red glow, quietly growing in intensity until it reaches its full illumination with a white-blue tint. This, Terao explains, is the same effect of the previous lantern he produced, achieved thanks to a series of red and white LEDs that can be controlled as the light is dimmed, to create an effect that is as close to natural light, or fire, as an industrially produced light can be.

'It's the same that you find with flames: lower flames are red, and as they become hotter, they turn blue. They are the colours of nature,' notes Terao. Switching off the lantern is a pleasure in itself, with the light going off slowly, almost imperceptibly.

This, Ive notes, is a consequence of his design process, driven by language as much as design. 'I can only draw a small percentage of the characteristics of this object, but I can write about many more. You don't switch off a candle or a bonfire. So when you use a word like extinguish, that to me is so open: the possibilities, the provocation. And I think when you switch this off, the feel of the mechanism and the sound and then the glow just gently goes. That's what makes us happy.'

A project rooted in collaboration

'Jony Ive’s attention to detail is world famous,' notes Terao. 'And for us as engineers, meeting his requirements was hard. But we took on this challenge, and maybe the biggest gift that Jony has given us is just that our abilities in science and technology have improved as a result.'

Ive echoes the sentiment. 'Gen is not interested in sailing, but we're both interested in solving these tough, crazy problems,' he adds. 'When you make something, people focus very often on the tangible expression of it. But the other consequences are what you learn, and your relationship.

'As you gain more experience in your practice, what seems really valuable gently starts to shift. And I feel overwhelmed with gratitude to be lucky enough to find somebody that I just love working with. I think you would be foolish and arrogant not to celebrate that, and I am very mindful of how rare and precious it is.'

Sailing Lantern is available for $4,800 (€4,500) in a limited edition of 1,000, from balmuda.com/lovefrom-balmuda

This year's London Design Festival offered some great moments of discovery, with emerging designers and independent studios taking over the city, opening their spaces and offering new approaches to creation and making. Along the way, we discovered some new lighting designs that caught our attention for their mix of ingenuity, functionality and beauty. From brands such as Tala, a regular fixture of London Design Festival who this year aimed to tackle an ongoing problem of our generation with a new lighting device to Raw Edges' lighting venture returning for a second year, from emerging design ideas by the likes of Six Dots and Yoonjeong Lee, illumination was central to our week.

Here, we bring you six lighting designs that caught our attention at London Design Festival 2026

Raw Edges for LightMass^

After launching the brand last year, Raw Edges and LightMass^ return with a new series of pendant lights that explore the design possibilities of the brand's experiments in additive technology and bio-based filaments. Featuring the same distinctive mesh shade of the launch collection, these sculptural, imposing pieces are an effortless decorative presence in a space. 'We wanted to achieve something sculptural and impressive that will be a pillar in space,' Alkalay told us when the company launched. 'At the same time we wanted it to be light in weight - almost like a mobile that can react to any little movement of air - and with a low carbon footprint through the light usage of material.'

'Wake' by Thomas Heatherwick for Tala

Launched at Tala’s Rivington Street store, this new lamp is three years in the making: ‘Wake’ is Heatherwick Studio’s response to our dependance on screens in the bedroom. Part bedside lamp, part circadian-aware sleep aid, it pairs hand-glazed ceramic and pressed glass with programmable light and sound sequences designed to help users wind down at night and wake gently in the morning – no harsh blue-light-emitting screens required. Ali Morris

Plug by Dean Edmonds

British designer Dean Edmonds' practice is rooted in ultra-functionalism and a no-nonsense approach to making. There is a sense of DIY in his work, often featuring raw metals and visible welding in a graceful way that adds sophistication and curiosity to the process. For Das Programm at System Studios: DP: CDRA, an exhibition of contemporary designs rooted in functionality, Edmonds created a wall lamp that very simply plugs into a socket, is connected to a bulb, and shaded by a perforated, curved piece of metal. It is everything an industrial design object should be: essential, functional and honest.

Six Dots

At Wallpaper*, we have admired the work of Joe Ellwood of Six Dots for a few years, and it's always exciting to see new pieces come from his experimental, hands-on studio. Among new welded pieces on show in Shoreditch this year, was this table lamp. 'This little drop of work has really been about trying to make things that feel intensely precious,' Ellwood explained. 'We bought a forge to cast our own aluminium a few months ago and immediately the objects that came out of the sand felt organic, otherworldly and precious.

‘Abiogenesis: Vol . 1’ by Abid Javed

For his London Design Festival showcase, designer Abid Javed has drawn on his training as a molecular scientist and his knowledge of structural and mitochondrial biology. The result is a series of otherworldly lamps that appear as if they are grown rather than made by hand, echoing the early stages of biogenesis. Javed makes the modular pieces in a variety of clay bodies, pairing ceramic bases with detachable shades, which can be interchanged. The collection, called ‘Abiogenesis: Vol . 1’, blurs the line between art, design and science. Ali Morris

Yoonjeong Lee

The highlights at the Charlotte Taylor-curated space at The Lavery, part of the Alex Tieghi-Walker-curated 'A Softer World' showcase, were too many to name. Set up as a small apartment full of life, treasure and curiosities, it looked like its inhabitants had just momentarily stepped out and you were allowed in for a peek. We particularly admired this desk lamp, made by Korean designer Yoonjeong Lee and featuring a pencil holding the shade in place. It is a highly symbolic tool for the designer: 'When writing, a pencil is a form of thought, when writing a letter, it is a bridge that connects emotions between people, when used as a tool of study, the pencil is an agent that gains knowledge and opens new possibilities,' she explains.

‘When I first moved into the Glass House, there was no light other than the sun,’ wrote Philip Johnson about his 1949-designed architectural masterpiece in New Canaan, Connecticut. ‘You can imagine the problem with reflections. If you had one bulb, you saw six.’

Johnson tasked lighting designer Richard Kelly with devising an atmospheric lighting solution that would sit and fit perfectly into his architectural masterpiece, and the Johnson/Kelly floor light was born in 1953.

When design duo Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows of BassamFellows moved into another Johnson-designed gem the former home of Richard and Geraldine Hodgson in New Canaan, they were inspired to revive the design, which reflects light from the bulb upwards into a coned top, then down and out, spreading a soft glow.

Coming to market this autumn, the satin stainless steel floor lamp achieves a balance of character and anonymity – ‘a small piece of architecture’ as BassamFellows eloquently put it. ‘Its effect is subtly theatrical, part of an ensemble that shapes the ambiance of a room without dominating it.’

The Johnson/Kelly Floor Lamp is manufactured by BassamFellows under license and authorisation from The Glass House, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Estate of Richard Kelly.

In the heart of San Antonio, nestled alongside Salado Creek on a 13-acre campus, is Lucifer Lighting’s creative headquarters. The lighting company has grown from a family business to casting a light across all corners of the globe. The HQ is home to all of its creativity from design and assembly, to prototyping and management, with the spaces filled with art and the building accessible to 20 miles of walking and biking trails. In addition to its headquarters in Texas, Lucifer Lighting launched its first showroom in New York City in 2023, following the successful opening of its San Francisco Jackson Square showroom the year before. With each year marking an expansion of the brand, 2025 proved to be busy, especially after debuting its illuminating new decorative feature Stellaris at Euroluce during Milan Design Week.

Behind the design with Lucifer Lighting

‘Our first decorative fixture, Stellar, was launched in 2020 in celebration of Lucifer Lighting’s 40th anniversary’, shared Gilbert Mathews, founder of Lucifer Lighting. ‘Where Stellar is elegant and modest in scale, our latest decorative feature Stellaris, measures approximately 30 inches in diameter and commands a striking presence, capable of defining the ambiance of a space on its own. What makes the fixture particularly special is its integration of both downlight and volumetric light within a single form. One aspect I’m especially proud of is the patented fold with discrete, concealed LEDs in the waveguide – a mesmerising design feature that prompts the viewer to wonder where the light is coming from. The product will officially launch in September 2025, and I can’t help but smile every time I think about this luminaire.’

The design consists of two main elements; a suspended enclosure of internally illuminated tubes; and a translucent barrier which defines the feature. Stellaris was designed in collaboration with architecture firm Gensler, who also designed the company’s showrooms. All of Lucifer Lighting’s finished products are assembled in the United States, with 93% of fixture components coming from North America.

‘We often say that the best lighting is the kind that no one notices. Our architectural lighting can be customised with special baffles, kick reflectors, and discrete aiming and adjustment – allowing illumination exactly where it’s needed without drawing attention to the light source. Our motto is “Design, Define, Disappear,” so it's a bit of an oxymoron that we create such beautifully crafted fixtures with no intention of them being noticed,’ shared Mathews.

The lighting company has clear design codes focused on clean lines and minimalism. Mathews wanted to step away from more traditional American lighting product design which for the most part is utilitarian and purely functional. ‘Years ago, I began studying European lighting fixture design, which resonated with me,’ Mathews told Wallpaper*. ‘I became attuned to its sleek aesthetic and saw an opportunity to build on it – elevating the approach through our engineering and fabrication capabilities. Seamlessly integrated surfaces that act as sculptural forms possess an inherent beauty, much like those in fine watches, cameras, and Italian sports cars, which continue to inspire me.’

Bringing light to interior spaces is exactly what the company delivers, having worked across hotels and flagships including The Peninsula, The Standard, the Four Seasons, Mandarin, St. Regis, Rosewood and The Ritz Carlton, to stores for Apple, Chanel, Cartier, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co., among others. Being the ‘barer of light’ was the inspiration behind the company’s intriguing name, as Mathews explained, ‘Our first lighting product was a strip light named the Lucifer Light, derived from the Latin root luciferous, meaning “light-bringing”, which is exactly what the strip light did. At the time, the company had an unmemorable name, but everyone remembered Lucifer Lighting. To this day, people often tell me that once they hear it, they never forget it.’

Flos has form when it comes to collaborating with the best designers around, whether it is to create instantly sought-after lighting designs, or the spaces to present them in. Following on its 2024 ‘Icon’ project, which spotlighted some of its classic lamps and their creators through archive imagery and atmospheric videos, the Italian house has enlisted the help of Formafantasma, the winners of a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025, and director and producer Nicolò Terraneo, known for his fashion campaigns.

Together they created a set design and a video installation for ‘The Light of the Mind’, Flos’ exhibition at Euroluce during Milan Design Week, where new pieces by seven designers were on display, including the ‘Jam Session’ floor lamp by Piero Lissoni, ‘Linked’ by Michael Anastassiades, and a new version of Philippe Starck’s ‘Bon Jour Unplugged’. Formafantasma also contributed an installation based on its own ‘SuperWire’ collection at Flos’ showroom on Corso Monforte.

The seven short films for ‘The Light of the Mind’ are designed to reflect the essence of the products and what lies behind them: the thought, imagination, fragility, and strength of the creative process. ‘This means stripping away additional storytelling, because the lamp itself, with its charm and design intelligence, is the narrative,’ says Formafantasma.

‘Each new product had three films running simultaneously alongside it that gave us glimpses of the designer’s studio and the designer at work – it was a beautiful piece of creative direction,’ explains Wallpaper* acting global design director Hugo MacDonald. ‘I was impressed by their use of film as a poetic, suggestive communication tool to enhance our appreciation of the designers’ worlds and ways of working.

‘It was so much more engaging than the standard “to camera” interviews that people usually lump for. Weirdly, without any words, and with three screens playing, we learnt so much more about the designer, their process and their products. Sometimes saying less can be so much more in the visual overload of Milan.’

To create the videos, Formafantasma provided director Nicolò Terraneo with a selection of materials including custom footage, found objects, book excerpts, film clips, and snapshots of the prototyping process. Terraneo also visited the designers’ studios but avoided the traditional interview format. The result, say Formafantasma, is an ‘honest portrait of the creative process: a continuous flow of free associations and almost alchemical combinations of thoughts, techniques, technologies, and materials.’

Here we highlight three of these short films, which its authors say ‘require the viewer to use their imagination, offering intentionally fragmented stories and a plurality of layered imagery.’

‘Seki-Han’ floor lamp, by Tobia Scarpa

The renowned Venetian architect and designer Tobia Scarpa originally designed the ‘Seki-Han’ wooden floor lamp in 1963. It has now been re-edited with ash wood rotating blades rather than the original fixed slim Douglas fir panels.

‘The reissue of the “Seki-Han” lamp gave us an opportunity to enhance the performance of the light source, leading to an increase in the height of the lamp, which further highlights the slender proportions of the thin wooden blades that screen the light,’ writes Scarpa. ‘The name of the lamp comes from a symbol of good fortune: in Japan, “seki han” (red rice) is a traditional dish often prepared for special occasions, such as the celebration of a birth.’

‘Luce Sferica’ pendant, by Ronan Bouroullec

Ronan Bouroullec’s modular glass pendants, ‘Luce Sferica’, are defined by their lightness and poetry. Although they seek to capture a fleeting moment, they are also inspired by an industrial, functional spirit.

‘“Luce Sferica” is a lamp that seeks delicacy and the beauty of simplicity, like raindrops clinging to a thread or a soap bubble blown by a child,’ writes Bouroullec. ‘On the synthetic base of the extruded aluminum, mouth-blown glass spheres glide, as if a bubble were to rest on a thread. Here, it is softness, magic, and technical sophistication that prevail. An object of great technical precision that expresses delicate beauty and poetry, more than synthetic mechanics.’

‘SuperWire’ collection, by Formafantasma

Formafantasma’s ‘Superwire’ collection was the star of Flos’ site-specific showroom installation at its flagship on Milan’s Corso Monforte. Launched last year and now produced in four versions, the collection was presented with fabric partitions that acted as a portal revealing the lights’ key components or the videos.

‘A few years ago, while working on “WireLine”, we experimented with the illuminating filament of LED bulbs. We liked its aesthetic presence and its flexibility; we imagined using it as a removable light source, one that could be replaceable by anyone,’ write Formafantasma’s Andea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin. ‘“SuperWire” is the result of a journey that lasted years and owes a lot to the Flos research and development team, who managed to transform the functional detail of a mainstream product into a unique light source.’

flos.com

In collaboration with Lodes

An ‘innovative and unconventional’ approach to outdoor lighting. That’s how Lodes’ managing director Massimiliano Tosetto describes the Venice-based studio’s new collection.

Lodes, he says, goes beyond illumination, shaping exterior lighting products that strike a balance between form and functionality, elevating spaces with a distinctively decorative touch. There’s no compromise on design, finish, materials and utility.

The company’s entry into the outdoor lighting sector, explains Tosetto, is guided by a clear ambition: not to follow existing standards, but to rethink them. The inaugural collection, launched at Euroluce 2025 during Salone del Mobile in Milan, puts optics and lenses front and centre, with lamps, floor washers, pendants, lamps and spots resulting from collaborations with acclaimed designers Patrick Norguet, Snøhetta and estudi{H}ac and the Lodes in-house design team.

From the collaboration with French designer Norguet, ‘Focus’ is a spot/projector whose lines, design and materials draw inspiration from the world of professional photography.

Intended to integrate seamlessly into natural landscapes – lawns, beds, large plant pots – the bollard design of ‘Kinno’ assumes a mushroom-esque, parasol form, incorporating light-diffusing gills and a long and slender stalk.

‘Chelsie’ is a hooded, ocular ‘floor washer’ model, casting soft, subtle light effects across staircases and skirtings, also functioning as a step marker in its compact version.

‘Reed’, by Lodes’ in-house team, nods to nature, its reed-like form designed to be planted in the ground either standing alone or as an evocative cluster.

Spanish design studio estudi{H}ac has contributed an ambient lantern, ‘Stitch’, crafted metal and outdoor fabric, and featuring a delicate woven pattern.

Meanwhile, ‘Volume’, by Norwegian architects Snøhetta, reimagines Lodes’ eponymous spherical blown-glass interior lighting design for the outdoors.

Also adapted to take an existing Lodes interior lighting design outdoors is the wall-mounted ‘Puzzle Outdoor’, re-engineered by the in-house team.

Designed for versatility and contextual sensitivity, Lodes’ outdoor lights subtly enhance their setting, whether natural or architectural, while adding luminescent clarity. They are adaptable to a variety of outdoor settings – terraces, pergolas, gardens, shading systems, and living walls.

Functionality is key to the Lodes aesthetic. The collection merges cutting-edge technology with high-performance features and the highest industry standards. Clean, timeless design and a carefully curated colour palette allow for great outdoor combinations. Individually, the pieces address specific design challenges, but the collection is visually cohesive, united by a refined, shared palette.

Technology is embedded into all products, which feature durable materials, weather resistance, and optical precision. A concealed light source ensures visual comfort in compact spaces, without sacrificing efficiency. The modular design allows for repair, replacement, and end-of-life disassembly, promoting sustainability through extended usability.

The entire collection reflects strategic design choices. From a minimal set of core components, multiple configurations emerge, tailored to diverse design scenarios.

lodes.com

A rare Frank Lloyd Wright table lamp hit the auction block yesterday (13 May 2025) in New York as a highlight of Sotheby's Modern Evening Sale. The so-called ‘double-pedestal’ lamp, commissioned more than a century ago for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Illinois, is one of three such lamps ever created – and was sold for $7.5 million breaking Sotheby's auction record for works by the architect.

As Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s chairman and co-worldwide head of 20th-century design, tells Wallpaper*, the lamp is 'one of the great icons of design by arguably the most influential architect of our generation.'

The lot, titled Frank Lloyd Wright: A Lamp for the Ages, is a glowing testament to the architect's innovative approach to design: in the early 1900s, electric lights were still a novelty, and Wright was one of the first to custom-design them.

The Sotheby's example is just one of three double-pedestal lamps designed by Wright, two of which were commissioned for the Dana House in 1903, while another was commissioned several years later for the Robie House in Chicago. One of the original lamps is in the collection of the Dana House museum, meaning that the Sotheby’s lamp is the only one that will ever be available for public auction.

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a major collector or institution to acquire a beacon of design,’ says Pollack.

The Dana House was designed for Susan Lawrence Dana, an independent-minded heiress who sought to express her personality with her home. It was an early example of Wright’s Prairie style, which emerged in Chicago in the early 20th century and took cues from the Arts and Crafts movement. The house contained 100 original pieces of furniture, as well as 450 art glass windows, doors and light fixtures designed by Wright.

‘Susan Lawrence Dana was the ideal patron, giving Wright a “blank-check” budget and creative license,’ says Pollack. ‘What he created was radical, experimental and without precedent.’

So too were the double-pedestal lamps, which have an architectural silhouette complete with 'eaves' and green panels that are thought to reference the house's 'floating screen' of glass pendants, or ribbons hung on Japanese shrines. (Wright took cues from Japanese architecture in his design of the house). The shade's geometric pattern, meanwhile, is thought to have been inspired by the sumac plant, which is indigenous to the American prairies. Depending on the light, the iridescent glass shifts from green to brown to amber.

‘It manages to distill down to the essence all of Wright's ideas about architecture and design,' says Pollack. 'It is like owning a perfect little house by Frank Lloyd Wright.’

Such pedigree is reflected in the high price achieved. In 2002, the last time the lamp appeared at auction, it snagged nearly $2 million at Christie's. In 2023, Sotheby's set a Wright world record when ceiling light from the Francis W. Little House, also in Illinois, sold for $2.9 million. This time around, the Dana House lamp had a low estimate of $3 million.

‘Each of us in the auction business has a wish list of works that we aspire to represent. The Dana House lamp has always been at the top of my list,’ says Pollack. ‘When this lamp was sold by Christie's in 2002, around the same time I had joined Sotheby's, I immediately recognised it as one of the most stunning and profound objects. When I saw it on view, it brought me to my knees.’

For Wright collectors and enthusiasts, this sale was a big deal: not only is the double-Pedestal lamp one of a kind, it is also a physical relic of the architect's genius.

‘Wright remains a darling of the public, and for good reason,’ says Pollack. ‘His works are as timeless and modern today as when they were created.’

Frank Lloyd Wright: A Lamp for the Ages was part of Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction, which took place 13 May 2025.

It began with a twig. On the workshop floor of Lasvit’s glassworks in Novy Bor, Czechia, renowned French designer Patrick Jouin picked up a small branch and placed a torn sheet of paper over it. He wondered, ‘What if this simple object could become a light?’ It was a moment of curiosity that sparked a series of experiments and eventually led to ‘Vera’ – a sculptural glass pendant with the appearance of bark.

There is something primal about it that makes me feel at ease,’ Jouin reflected at last week’s launch in Milan. ‘Somewhere in our DNA there is this need for connection with the tree, with the forest, with nature. So it’s important to bring it inside the home – a little bit raw, a little bit transformed.’

Presented on Lasvit’s Euroluce stand – its largest to date – ‘Vera’ blends two types of handmade glass: delicate borosilicate housing the light source, and fused glass shaped by pouring molten glass over raw wood, preserving the intricate grain and texture of bark. Free from a traditional mould, the glass takes its cues from gravity and nature, creating an interplay of surface, shadow and light.

‘Vera’ was just one of several highly textured new designs on show as part of a display titled ‘Soaked in Light’. Each piece explores the relationship between light, material and wellbeing through a different lens, be it wood, water, fabric or ice.

At the heart of the exhibition is 'Splash', an extravagant glass installation by Lasvit designer Martin Gallo. Designed to echo water’s calming effect on the body and mind, fused glass forms were suspended in a dramatic formation that allowed visitors to walk in among them. Resembling water in motion, the installation reflected the light like ripples all around.

At the entrance to the stand, Lasvit artistic director Maxim Velčovský brought a different tactility to 'Loomo', a new lighting system inspired by woven textiles. Though smooth to the touch, the glass is imprinted with a structured weave, capturing the softness of fabric in a rigid form. Designed for compact spaces such as corridors or beside beds, Loomo comes in two wall sconce sizes, both finished in a warm, golden hue that enhances their sculptural glow. 'It’s like playing with light,’ said Velčovský, reflecting on the development process, ‘making the most of every centimetre to shift the atmosphere of a space.’

Rounding out the showcase was ‘Niveo’, a new collection by Czech designer Jan Plecháč. Named after the Italian word for ‘snow-white’, ‘Niveo’ channels the fleeting beauty of hailstones into hand-blown glass. Including linear pendants, clusters and an inverted spherical table lamp, the irregular texture of the 'Niveo' series creates an alluring, soft glow.

Other pieces on show included the colour-shifting 'Herbarium Radiant', an immersive lighting installation that the Czech glass company first launched at Design Miami 2024 in December. It's made from a new type of glass that incorporates repurposed waste, and users can adjust the colour of the light to create a mesmerising, ever-changing experience. Amid a Milan Design Week busier and bolder than ever, Lasvit’s installation provided a welcome pause – a reminder of the beauty in slowing down and paying attention to subtleties.

lasvit.com

Read more highlights from Milan Design Week

‘A piece of cloth’ is the foundational principle of Japanese label Issey Miyake, whose eponymous founder used the term to express his reverence for fabric – how a flat piece of material could be transformed into his colourful, sculptural creations through innovation and imagination. It has since spawned the acronymic A-POC Able Issey Miyake, an experimental offshoot of the label defined by inventive pattern cutting and an engagement across disciplines.

At Milan Design Week 2025, A-POC Able Issey Miyake unites with Switzerland-based architectural design studio Atelier Oï to expand the ‘a piece of cloth’ philosophy into lighting in a project titled ‘TYPE-XIII Atelier Oï’. Using wire and fabric, the collaboration – the result of a months-long exchange of conversation and ideas – sees a series of undulating table and ceiling lamps crafted from ‘a piece of wire’ and a ‘piece of cloth’.

‘Type-XIII Atelier Oï Project’ by Atelier Oï and A-POC Able Issey Miyake

The collaboration, revealed in a special installation at Issey Miyake’s Milan store, unfolds over two series: the ‘O Series’ and the ‘A Series’. The former is a series of portable lamps, developed alongside Japanese manufacturer Ambientec, whereby Atelier Oï’s oval-shaped wire frame meets a shade crafted from A-POC Able’s innovative ‘steam stretch’ fabric. By detaching the fabric shade it can be folded flat, allowing easy transportation.

Meanwhile the ‘A Series’ comprises elegant wire pendant lamps with seamless knit fabric draped and stretched over different twisting wire frames. In the experimental spirit of A-POC Able, the fabric can be cut to create different shapes, or joined together in double or triple constellations. The first release will be a prototype pendant light, created in collaboration with Spanish lighting brand Parachilna.

‘Type-XIII Atelier Oï Project’ by Atelier Oï and A-POC Able Issey Miyake will be presented at Issey Miyake’s Milan store (Via Bagutta 12, 20121 Milan) from 8 –13 April, 2025,

Salone del Mobile 2025 takes place 8-13 April. Check our full Milan Design Week 2025 guide for the must-sees.

A version of this article appears in the May 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 3 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

British designer Lee Broom has teamed up with the Valencia porcelain artisans at Lladró to design a range of lighting that takes its cues from the glowing translucency of paper lanterns – the most ancient of human-made light sources.

Playing with the delicacy of porcelain to mimic the effect of flame through paper, Broom has developed a series of graphic, ribbed cylinders and demi-spheres that are suspended vertically and can be combined in different configurations. A table lamp completes the collection. When not in use, the textured porcelain assemblages are a quiet, sculptural presence; when lit, they take on an almost celestial quality.

Broom says of his ‘Cascade’ collection, which will be unveiled at Euroluce during Salone del Mobile 2025: ‘I wanted the light to evoke an emotional response and bring that sense of joy as lanterns do at commemorative events, especially when hung in clusters.’

lladro.com

Salone del Mobile 2025 takes place 8-13 April. See our full Milan Design Week 2025 guide for the must-sees

This article appears in the May 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 3 April, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

As anyone who has worked on the reissue of a design classic knows, the process carries a huge weight of responsibility. Not only must it meet the high standards of craftsmanship, regulation, and sustainability required today, but it must also honour the spirit of the original design and its creators. For Amos Goldreich, whose brand Tamart was founded to bring back to life the vast archive of his late parents – designers Tamar de Shalit and Arthur Goldreich – this responsibility feels particularly personal.

‘Every decision requires balancing emotional resonance with commercial viability, ensuring that the collection reflects both the legacy of Tamart and the needs of today's users,’ Goldreich tells Wallpaper*, reflecting on the ten furniture pieces that the brand debuted last year – a selection of designs chosen for their balance of form and function, historical significance, and contemporary relevance. Defined by sculptural silhouettes, finely crafted timber, and a commitment to sustainability, the collection set the foundation for Goldreich’s revival of his parents' work.

This week, the brand introduces its first lighting design to its growing offering. Featuring a handblown elliptical glass shade resting within a solid wood cradle, the 82-centimetre-high 'Clore' floor lamp has an imposing scale, Goldreich even refers to it as a ‘furniture-lamp’. The original design was a bespoke commission, created in 1963 by Tamar de Shalit for the penthouse of British financier and philanthropist Sir Charles Clore.

‘My parents embraced the principle of 'total design' in both architecture and interior design – they always designed the light fittings for their architectural and interior projects,’ says Goldreich. ‘This approach is deeply holistic, ensuring that every element – from the building’s structure to the smallest detail – is carefully considered and integrated for a cohesive and thoughtful overall design. A clear example of this philosophy is Sir Charles’ penthouse, where no aspect was left untouched by their design vision.’

The 'Clore' floor lamp joins Tamart’s existing 'Clore' range, which includes a lounge chair, ottoman, dining table, and coffee tables, all originally designed for the penthouse. While staying as faithful as possible to the original, the reissued floor lamp embraces contemporary refinements, exploring improvements in materials, fabrication, sustainability, and overall construction.

The glass shade – which combines an opaque inner layer and a clear outer layer to create a softly diffused light – is handblown in Czechia by expert artisans. The solid timber base, available in natural ash, natural oak, and black-stained ash, mirrors the depth of the legs of the ‘Clore’ lounge chair, reissued last year. It also introduces subtle bullnose-curved stile tops and feet, creating a lighter, more refined aesthetic.

‘This subtle detail also visually connects the lamp to the “Highgate” chair in our collection, reinforcing a cohesive design language across our pieces,’ explains Goldreich.

The ‘Clore’ floor lamp arrives as part of Tamart’s expanding collection, which, as of last month, now includes jewellery, prints, and home accessories alongside its furniture. Selecting which pieces to revive from an archive of over 10,000 designs is no easy task, but lighting is set to play a greater role in Tamart’s future, with several designs already earmarked for reissue.

‘We have identified several light fittings that we would like to reimagine and produce in the future. Some were previously created for specific projects, while others present a more intriguing challenge, as they exist only as concept sketches. Deciphering what my parents were trying to achieve with these designs is an exciting process – one that allows us to honour their vision while bringing these pieces into the present with contemporary materials and craftsmanship.’

tamartdesign.com

In the summer of 2023, Belgian designer Maarten De Ceulaer found himself on the banks of a mountain river in the Pyrenees, absent-mindedly stacking stones as he had done since childhood. The simple act of balancing carefully selected rocks into cairns is a practice with ancient roots. Often used as markers to commemorate people, places, or events, cairns have links to navigation, memory, and spirituality.

Months later, while driving, De Ceulaer revisited the memory of that afternoon and wondered if he could translate these ephemeral compositions into sculptural lighting objects. The result is the Cairn Lights, a series of stone-based luminaires that embody balance, craftsmanship, and connection to the natural world.

Their irregular forms and off-kilter angles evoke a sense of otherworldly beauty, reminiscent of nature’s more mystical creations, like toadstools emerging from the earth. When switched on, they emit a warm and enticing glow.

The process of developing Cairn Lights, De Ceulaer says, was instinctive and experimental. He began by collecting a large variety of stones, stacking them intuitively to create harmonious forms. ‘The juxtapositioning of the two stones had to work on every level,’ he tells Wallpaper*. ‘When putting them together, the resulting combination of shape, colour and texture had to be interesting, with a certain level of tension.’

To transform these compositions into functional lights, he sculpted the stones – flattening the base for stability and hollowing out the ‘lampshade’ to house a concealed light source. Early on, he realised that his workshop was ill-equipped for the dust-heavy process of stone-cutting. To refine his technique, he enrolled in a sculpture class, where he learned essential stone-carving skills and worked within a fully equipped studio. From there, it was a process of trial and error, developing adaptable metal components to support the organic stone structures and fine-tuning the principle with each new piece.

Beyond their material beauty, the pieces take on a symbolic dimension. Referring back to how, historically, cairns have served as wayfinders, memorials, and spiritual markers, De Ceulaer sees his Cairn Lights as contemporary counterparts to these ancient forms. 'I think that my Cairn Lights can serve as a powerful symbol of direction, memory and connection. They could stand as a symbolic beacon, guiding the way forward in a metaphorical sense,' he ponders. 'I see them becoming family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation, becoming a legacy that holds the memories of past generations while lighting the way for future ones.'

The Cairn Lights continue De Ceulaer’s broader design philosophy, translating universal ideas and emotions into objects, each collection forming a self-contained world that evolves over time. 'Over the years, these projects become families that keep on growing, as I like to come back to them with new variations and iterations,' he explains. 'I love to explore new materials, crafts and production techniques with every new project. By doing so, each project becomes a journey, and this discovery and learning process is what I love and keeps me going.'

A selection of nine Cairn Lights will debut at Brussels-based design fair Collectible, which returns to the Vanderborght Building from 13 to 16 March 2025 for its eighth edition.

maartendeceulaer.com
collectible.design

More lighting ideas? See our pick of elegant bedside lamps and floor lamps

Patience often reveals silver linings, as Melbourne-based Flack Studio discovered when a glass fitting from a vintage wall sconce broke irreparably during an installation. With the 20 x 20cm back plate already in place, the studio’s founder, David Flack, called on local lighting designer Volker Haug for an urgent, site-specific solution. Haug was able to save the day, creating a bespoke fitting that seamlessly integrated with the existing design, but the story doesn’t end there. The incident sparked the idea for an altogether more expansive and ambitious collaboration.

Using the fixed 20 x 20cm back plate as a starting point, the two studios began to develop a lighting collection. Initially, the designers embraced this dimension as a constraint for exploring material and form. Through models and prototypes, they pushed creative boundaries, eventually loosening these parameters to enable a more organic and unconstrained design process. The resulting 12-piece collection is a celebration of the innate beauty of materials like brass, aluminium, glass and fibreglass.

They called it 'Me and You' – a reference to the spirit of collaboration and the relationship between light and space – and launched it in April during Milan Design Week 2024 as a limited collection. ‘Seeing our clients interact with this collection in Milan was really insightful,’ recalls Volker Haug, founder and director of Volker Haug Studio. ‘How they responded to the designs, the materials, and hearing how they planned to integrate the works with their own projects was really telling. From those conversations, we identified opportunities to build on the original collection.’

Without wasting time, the studios began creating six new designs, which launched last week in Volker Haug’s Melbourne showroom. The new additions include The 'Tux' pendant and 'Tux' wall light, which share softly curved fibreglass shades and brass binding details with the existing 'Tux' table lamp. The collection also features a smaller version of the bud-like 'Fleur' pendant and expanded configurations of the gridded 'Bruce' wall light in cast brass or aluminium.

‘“Me and You” is a collaboration that has always happened organically, and these beautiful new additions are no different,’ comments David Flack, founder and principal of Flack Studio. ‘For me, they really reflect the essence of the collection, which is the coming together of our respective disciplines – interior and industrial design.’

To mark the launch, Volker Haug invited Flack Studio to refresh its Melbourne showroom located in the brand's converted 1940s warehouse HQ. Set across the building's first floor, the showroom is accessed via the brand's ground floor design office and workshops. In a packing and dispatch area that opens out to an internal courtyard, a rear staircase leads up to the showroom and office with a sawtooth roof where pendants hang on long suspensions.

Building on the design studios' Milan showcase, a rug by local brand Halcyon Lake lies underfoot, the walls and ceiling are painted in an oxblood red gloss paint, and the space's south-facing windows are dressed with the same 7m curtain used in Milan. Works from local artists such as Lucina Lane, Spencer Lai, Mike Parr, Jahnne Pasco-White, Joseph Junmara and Mark Maurangi Carrol are hung on the walls.

'As a starting point we used the palette from our Milan show but it quickly became apparent the [earthy brown] colours didn’t work under the Australian light,' says Haug, who moved from Germany to Australia in the early 2000s and launched his own studio out of his garage in 2004. 'Instead, we went with a glossy oxblood red paint. We also reused the textiles and the wooden furniture from Milan which was custom designed and made to be shown in conjunction with the 'Me and You' collection. The space is the perfect setting to present our collaboration with Flack Studio in Melbourne.'

volkerhaug.com
flack.studio

The Los Angeles–based artist James Cherry is a keen observer of his surroundings. The shapes, structures, and materials he encounters—the silhouette of a starfish, a skyscraper’s form, spindly twigs, local produce, and even dust—often end up in his abstract, sculptural lamps. In fact, the name of his solo show, open at New York’s Tiwa Gallery from 12 December 2024, ‘From Pollen,’ is taken from his fascination with microscopic particles. 'I love the idea of turning this dust around us into something that's structural and holds form,' he says while explaining how he made the textured, papier-mâché armature of a three-foot-tall floor lamp in the exhibition.

‘From Pollen’ is composed of twenty five lamps Cherry created this year during a residency at Salmon Creek Farm, a former Northern California commune built in the 1970s turned creative retreat, and a stint in a temporary studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn. While the coastal redwood forests of the former and industrial environs of the latter have little in common, both influences have converged in objects that are striking and a little bit mysterious, with hints of the natural and man-made worlds within them.

'From Pollen' by James Cherry at Tiwa Gallery

'A lot of this work was inspired by sitting with myself, being alone, and cozying up to that sort of guttural inner self,' Cherry says. At his normal studio in Los Angeles, Cherry often makes his sculptures in dialogue with friends, bouncing ideas off them and sometimes incorporating their feedback. But at Salmon Creek, he had his own cabin and was working mostly in solitude. 'It was simultaneously extremely isolating and so refreshing,' he says of the experience.

Like most of the artists who exhibit at Tiwa, Cherry is obsessive about the materials he uses. In his case, resin, which takes on an organic sensibility in his hands. He typically makes an armature, tightly stretches nylon around it, then coats the material with epoxy resin until it reaches the opacity he desires. Sometimes, he’ll keep the armature inside the lamp, so that the structure creates shadows within, or he’ll remove it so that it appears to be a solid form. 'All of my work is born out of play and seeing what sticks,' Cherry says.

The lamps in ‘From Pollen’—a mixture of table lamps, floor lamps, chandeliers, and pendants— have irregular shapes and textures to them. These works are a departure for Cherry, who is usually drawn to clean, crisp forms. He made the armatures from branches he found around Salmon Creek Farm and was drawn to the silhouettes of abalone shells, starfish, and sea urchins he saw on the beach nearby. 'This was me challenging myself and seeing if I could accomplish something that wants to be more untamed,' he says. 'I wanted to shock myself and see something and say, what is that?' Meanwhile, fruits and vegetables from the gardens at Salmon Creek Farm also made their way into the collection by way of thinly sliced persimmons, apples, and cucumber that comprise book-like wall sconces.

While some of the lamps have biomorphic qualities—a bit like Eva Hesse draped one of her material experiments over a Louise Bourgeois sculpture—others read more industrial, owing to finishing up the collection in New York. The cityscape is reflected in tower-like forms, armatures fabricated from metal dowels, fabric that has hints of a pattern lightly sketched onto it. Cherry works with found materials and scraps, which may have hints of their past lives on them. The array of references, playfulness, and “wild constructions” that are present in Cherry’s newest lamps is part of the reason why Alex Tieghi-Walker, the founder of Tiwa Gallery, was interested in exhibiting this body of work.

'A lot of people who go to Salmon Creek Farm are from cities or urban environments and find the creativity that place offers or encourages really exciting,' says Tieghi-Walker, who has also spent time at the retreat and made friends and found artistic collaborators there. 'That's why I was really fascinated by James’s time there. I’ve been trying to think of ways for Salmon Creek to exist in this city and how to connect Northern California to New York a bit more and how to bring some of the incredible energy that’s been manifested out there over here.'

Fortunately for us, ‘From Pollen’ invites visitors to the gallery into that energy, offering a moment of visual wonder not unlike what Cherry experienced during his residency.

‘From Pollen’ is on view from 12 December until 18 January, 2025 at Tiwa Gallery, 86 Walker Street, New York, NY. tiwa-select.com

It is always at this time of year in the northern hemisphere, as winter solstice approaches and the days are at their shortest, we find ourselves increasingly drawn to the products and projects that explore light. Among these, candlelight remains the most captivating, offering both comfort and ritual.

This winter, Scottish gallery Bard in Edinburgh (which launched in 2022) embraces this ancient fascination. Here, 20 makers and artists from all over Scotland – working in stone, woods, ceramic, silver, leather and steel – have bathed the space in the soft glow of candlelight, showcasing their own interpretations of the humble candlestick.

'Winters are tough in Scotland – we’re not north enough to get the reflective benefit of snow. But we are north enough for very short days. Add frequent rain and wind, and that cloak of darkness can feel like it goes on forever,' says Wallpaper's acting global design director Hugo Macdonald, who devised the show alongside his Bard co-founder and husband James Stevens.

'You find candles in most homes as a cheery wintry antidote, and I think Scottish makers perhaps have a proclivity to design candleholders as a result. We are a nation of experienced candle lighters!'

Drawing on their personal experience of testing Scottish winters, each artist and maker was asked to create a candleholder that expressed their distinct creative vocabulary. The results are both captivating and uplifting. Rhythmic, spun aluminium holders by Glasgow artist Marc Sweeney (one of Wallpaper's emerging design stars for 2025) are inspired by Brancusi’s endless column; hand-carved, charred oak totems by Edinburgh-based Jonathan Freemantle twist upwards; while crystaline-esque holders in rich-metallic hues made by local ceramic artist Mella Shaw gently shimmer in the dim light.

Showcased under the title of 'A Scottish Enlightenment' – a tongue-in-cheek nod to the 18th-century period of intellectual and social progress – the group show illuminates Bard's Edinburgh space throughout December 2024. We caught up with Macdonald to explore the inspiration behind the show, the challenges of curating such a diverse collection, and how the works reflect the essence of winter light.

Wallpaper*: What inspired you to curate a show dedicated entirely to candlesticks?

Hugo Macdonald: We find shows that explore breadth of individual expression and material exploration through the lens of a single, archetypal object surprisingly revelatory. It’s a simple idea (and definitely not revolutionary!) but it’s certainly the case that visitors to such a show tend to appreciate the objects in an accessible ‘compare and contrast’ way, rather than being overwhelmed by a complex curatorial concept. Everyone has enough on their plates and in their heads come this time of year. So we devised a light-filled, light-hearted exhibition for happiness.

W*: How did you select which makers to work with?

HM: After two years of Bard, we have built wonderful relationships with lots of makers, designers and artists and so we invited people we felt would be excited by the idea and also who would respond with a good range of materials. Having geographical spread from Scotland is also something we take into account with our shows, and we try to make sure there’s a spectrum of experience, age and price for finished work too.

W*: What has the journey of bringing this exhibition to life been like?

HM: We put the call out in the middle of summer, which felt responsible but also a bit weird. Everyone was delighted – we’ve become addicted to using words that have ‘light’ in them. We’d pictured Bard as an atmospheric, glowing séance. But as the spectacular array of ideas and concepts came back, we began to wonder how hot Bard might be with so many candles lit, and whether we should be keeping buckets of water in the rooms as a precautionary measure. Mercifully, it’s been okay so far. No fires yet, and we don’t need to switch the heating on.

W*: What has most impressed you about the designs that have emerged?

HM: The variety of responses makes for a really engaging show. Each exhibit says something about the personality of the person behind it, as well as the properties of the material. From light-hearted to poetic to profound, ingeniously simple to compelling complex, there is a fascinating array on display. It also serves to help us read different characters of the visitors who come to the show, depending on what they are drawn to. It’s a very crafty psychological profiling experiment!

W*: Can we look forward to more mono-product exhibitions from Bard in the future?

HM: Our objective with Bard was to be a home for Scottish craft and design, and also to demystify it for people by having a playful approach – encouraging people to buy, live with and use craft and design in their homes. The show has been a really successful endeavour in this regard. Everyone loves candlesticks, especially in Scotland in winter, so as an access point to learn about different people’s creative practices, and different material properties and possibilities, it has been wonderful to see so many people so engaged.

Long-winded answer – yes, we feel group shows around a single archetype are effective ways of demonstrating the multitudinous varieties of material and process, as well as the power and potential of individual expression, within craft and design.

‘A Scottish Enlightenment’ is open 11am – 5pm, Friday to Sunday and otherwise by appointment at Bard, 1 Customs Wharf, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6AL, and runs until 23 December 2024

bard-scotland.com

Despite being one of the earliest forms of interior lighting, wall sconces remain an underrated lighting option in modern homes. Once essential for holding torches, oil lamps, and wax candles, they’ve evolved into more decorative, nice-to-have fixtures, often overshadowed by the 'big light' or, worse, overly harsh spotlights.

Unlike overhead options that can leave spaces feeling flat and clinical, wall sconces offer a subtler, more flattering glow. They cast light at eye level, transforming walls into radiant canvases and creating inviting and atmospheric interiors. Whether you want to highlight an artwork, craft cosy pockets of light, or create a sculptural focal point, our selection of wall-mounted sconces and lamps is for those seeking style and substance in equal measure.

See also: our favourite floor lamps and bedside lamps.

'Dado' wall lamp by Volker Haug x Flack Studio

From the portfolio of Australian lighting designer Volker Haug, the 'Dado' wall lamp features an aluminium disc set in a cast glass cube that refracts the light beautifully. The design, which evokes glass bricks popular in late 20th century interiors, was launched during Milan Design Week 2024 as part of the studio’s Me and You collection—a collaboration with Melbourne architects Flack Studio.

$1,850, available The Future Perfect

'Tripod HM12' by Hvidt and Mølgaard for &Tradition

Pioneers of Danish mid-century design, the Copenhagen-based firm Hvidt & Molgaard created hundreds of designs throughout their careers, including the celebrated 'Tripod' floor lamp. This more recent wall lamp adaption for Danish firm &Tradition boasts the same specially developed swivel joint for easy articulation, perfect for bedtime reading.

£365, available through Twentytwentyone

'Del Playa' single arm sconce by Jessica Helgerson for Roll and Hill

For designer Jessica Helgerson, the 'Del Playa' sconce is an ode to the beaches of Santa Barbara where she grew up. It features a turned white oak arm and white bone china shade that recalls the handcrafted aesthetic of California in the 1970s.

From £2770, available through SCP

'Lentium' sconce by Roman and Williams Guild

Launched to coincide with the 2024 opening of Roman and Williams Guild’s New York exhibition A Certain Slant of Light, the 'Lentium' is a substantial cast bronze sconce featuring a bubbled, cast glass shade crafted by Venetian artisans. The sconce takes its name and inspiration from the Lentium, lens-like objects historically used across artistic and industrial fields to manipulate light, either sharpening or softening its beams.

From $8,400 , Roman and Williams Guild

'Joy' wall lamp R25 by Draga & Aurel for Artemest

Italian studio Draga & Aurel drew inspiration from the Space Age when designing 'Joy', an elliptic resin and bronze wall lamp. luminous sculpture. It's made by layering epoxy resin to create a gradient of hues. When combined with the dimmable neon light source, these layers blend to produce a soft glow.

£6,720, Artemest

'Rotor' wall light by Palefire x 8 Holland Street

Designed with reading corners and bedsides in mind, the 'Roto' wall light recalls the diablo-shaped lights of the 1950s. Its hand-painted body and shade are realised in moulded paper pulp and connected with a brass fitting. This punchy green colour is an ode to Italian architect and industrial designer, Vico Magistretti and his 1970s Gaudi chair.

From £420, Palefire

'Shade' sconce by Blue Green Works

Inspired by the shape of a cymbal, the 'Shade' sconce by Manhattan-based studio Blue Green Works is a lesson in refined simplicity. The circular disc, crafted from either steel or brass, features a subtly asymmetrical centre that lends it a distinctive yet minimalist aesthetic. The sconce can be mounted directly to the wall with the disc facing downward, serving as an elegant bedside light, or facing upward to act as an architectural accent in spaces like hallways.

£2,535, available through SCP

'Varmblixt' wall lamp by Sabine Marcelis for IKEA

For those looking for high design at more accessible price points, Ikea’s designer collaborations are always hotly anticipated. In 2023, it was the turn of Dutch New Zealand designer Sabine Marcelis who conjured a series of sculptural lights for the Swedish behemoth. Her collection included 'Varmblixt', a playful, doughnut-shaped wall lamp made from orange glass that creates a radiant, warm glow.

£55, IKEA

'Tolomeo Mini Parete' by Michele De Lucchi for Artemide

The 'Tolomeo Mini Parete' by Artemide has cult status in the world of lighting design. Created by the renowned Italian designer Michele De Lucchi in collaboration with Giancarlo Fassina, this lamp epitomises functionality, precision and timeless design. Introduced in 1987, the Tolomeo series was celebrated for its envelope-pushing approach to task lighting, combining a minimalist aesthetic with exceptional adaptability.

£310, available through Finnish Design Shop

'Alma' wall light by Beata Heuman for Original BTC

The 'almost ethereal quality' of bone china as well as mid-century Scandinavian design served as the inspiration for the 'Alma' lighting collection by Swedish designer Beata Heuman for Original BTC. Made at the brand’s Stoke on Trent factory, the shade of this wall light is punctured with 41 hand-made holes which when lit, resemble little glowing stars.

£515, Original BTC

In partnership with Bottega Veneta

Gino Sarfatti’s Model 600 Lamp is a favourite for discerning design fans. When it was first unveiled at the Triennale in 1968, no one had seen a light quite like it and it has remained as curious and covetable to this day. So it is with great excitement that we greet the announcement of a special edition Model 600 – the result of a collaboration between Bottega Veneta and Flos, two brands with an eye for an icon and a commitment to craft.

Born in Venice in 1912, Sarfatti was one of the most pioneering and prolific lighting designers of the post-war period. He founded Arteluce in 1939 and designed more than 600 lights over the course of his life. As with the great Italian modernists he married advances in technology and manufacturing with a lovable humanity, and his Model 600 is a perfect case in point. It is famous for its stitched leather base filled with lead pellets, which turns the humble light fixture into a friendly companion. For all that we love the precision engineering of a trusty anglepoise, the satisfying squash of a pellet-filled sack is more fun to play with, and arguably does a better job of angling your light source exactly where you want it.

Sarfatti designed the Model 600 in 1966, the same year that Bottega Veneta was founded in Vicenza. The Model 600 was originally manufactured by Arteluce, which Saraftti sold to Flos in 1973, so it feels fitting that Bottega Veneta and Flos have joined forces to bring the Model 600 back to life. The partnership, overseen by Bottega Veneta’s creative director Matthieu Blazy, has been respectful and faithful to the charm of the original design, honouring Sarfatti’s design ingenuity while gently flexing the brands’ own commitment to craft and innovation, both sensitively and appropriately.

What’s new and noteworthy is the leather base, to which Bottega Veneta has introduced its signature Infilato and Foulard Intrecciato techniques, adding a grown-up handsome elegance to the more preppy sack of the original. The characterful shape of the original’s bulb is present and correct, updated here with the latest LED technology. Suitable not just on the desk but on any surface or floor, the special edition comes in two sizes and is available in a variety of colourways. These include black, grey, red, emerald green and Bottega Veneta’s signature green, which brings a verdant verve to proceedings.

Find out more and shop the lamps at bottegaveneta.comand flos.com

As the days grow increasingly shorter in the northern hemisphere, a renewed focus on lighting our spaces to cope with the darkness comes to the fore. For Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, founders of New York design studio Roman and Williams, this offered a perfect opportunity to draw attention to the impressive array of lighting products they’ve developed over more than two decades.

The husband-and-wife duo are renowned for their fastidious use of atmospheric lighting, whether at the Boom Boom Room nightspot or the British Galleries at The Met. They’ve been designing their own lights for both residential and commercial spaces ever since founding their studio in 2002, and all of the products are handcrafted by specialised artisans around the world.

An exhibition of these myriad designs opens to the public on 19 November 2024, and in true Roman and Williams fashion, it’s a dramatic display of just how impactful and even spiritual lighting can be – particularly during the winter months.

Influenced by Emily Dickinson’s 19th-century poem, There's A Certain Slant of Light, the showcase is housed on the second floor of the former New York Mercantile Exchange in Tribeca, completed in 1886 by architect Thomas R Jackson – who coincidentally designed the Arnold Constable & Co building that houses the Roman and Williams Guild on Canal Street. The 30ft ceilings and elongated windows add to the drama of the installation, which involves 100 variations of original Roman and Williams lights – the majority of which are suspended above the viewer to create what Standefer describes as a ‘celestial’ installation.

The exhibition also marks the introduction of 12 new lighting iterations, which blend industrial fixtures with shapely shades and diffusers in a unique way. Take the Axil Pendant, a botanical-inspired design with a curved metal shade that wraps a trio of nested glass diffusers. Then there’s sconces and lamps of the Lentium collection, comprising cast-bronze supports with semi-cylindrical, bubbled glass diffusers. In the Dahlia Table Lamp, a delicate floral alabaster shade is positioned on a metal stand, while the nautical Porto Sconce comes with a rippled blown glass shade that’s available in a new pale aubergine colourway.

Each of these designs, along with others in Roman and Williams’ back catalogue, appears in various finishes, colours, and sizes within the exhibition.

‘A Slant of Light’ is on view at 6 Harrison Street until 1 December 2024. We spoke with Robin Standefer about the show.

In conversation with Robin Standefer

Wallpaper*: Tell us about the exhibition ‘A Slant of Light’. What was the concept and what were you hoping to achieve?

Robin Standefer: The poetry of this exhibition is about time of day and about the mood of the season. And that's why the poem There's A Certain Slant of Light has always been very profound to me, growing up in the Northeast and always loving Emily Dickinson. [Think about] as the time changes, as the mood changes, as the light changes and darkness falls at 4.30pm – what that does to us emotionally, and how powerful the experience of electric light can be at that moment. So that's why we created this exhibition. And so to see it, I have to tell you, Dan, truly, when I was there the other day installing, and I was there from 3.30 to 5pm, I was like, ‘it's working, it's profound’. To have a sensory experience of an exhibition that you're creating, that's something you can hope for, but not really be certain [it] will deliver, right? And it does.

W*: How did you decide on the venue, and what does the space add to the exhibition?

RS: It's a sensory and emotional experience to be in this incredible 1886, 30ft space that Thomas Jackson designed. He also designed the building that our Guild is in, which was a beautiful kismet discovery after we found this space. There's something about these classical but utilitarian buildings from the late 19th century that Stephen and I are so enamoured with. And they do have this profound, beautiful Beaux-Arts classical detailing in the architecture, and they create a real contrast to the modernism of our lights. That tension is really strong.

W*: What is it about lighting specifically that’s so interesting to you?

RS: Stephen and I have been designing lights for the better part of almost 30 years. Designing things that heighten the senses has always been particularly attractive to us and interesting. We have a collection of furniture and a collection of accessories, but for lighting– both candle and electric light – it's technically challenging. There are compliance issues, there are design issues, there are issues about how things dim. There are issues with LED bulbs. So there's that whole technical component, and there's the incredible emotional component of how those lights make you feel: the scale of them, where they're best placed, the intimacy of lights in a bedroom, at a dinner party, in a commercial space, in a restaurant.

As a designer, the thing people say to me the most is: ‘Oh, it's so hard to find the perfect light. You make such beautiful lights. You design spaces that have incredible layers of atmosphere and the lighting. How do you do it?’ And I started to want to be generous about making those lights for people in their homes, right? And making those lights for designers to use, and even blowing glass of a certain tonality that allows the colour temperature of the LED light to really be warm and inviting. So all of this led to us wanting to show that we've designed about 100 lights, give or take.

There's a lot of ways to count, because we have a lot of different finishes and sizes in a collection, and there’s this idea of unity and variety. It’s like botany, and we think of lights almost as a genus of plants. There's this evolution of different sizes, types, colours, as though you're looking at a family tree. This exhibition was about allowing people to really experience the lights, almost in a gallery setting.

W*: Is there a particular stylistic thread that unites all of these pieces?

RS: I think the 12, again like a tree, have different branches. There's not one light that doesn't have some sort of typology from the previous things we're making, and that's what I mean by the family tree and this sense of DNA. Stephen and I see the lights as our children.

W*: And what was the intention behind combining all of these very different stylistically lights into one installation? How did it all come together?

RS: One of the reasons was to create a world of 100 lights, because it's really celestial. When you look at the night sky, you see brighter stars and less bright stars, and constellations, and they're all quite different. But they're all ‘hanging’ together, if you will. Our lights, for us, have a material synergy, an architectural and a natural synergy. They're all quite different, but they definitely have a connection. So we decided to hang them all in this massive space, and they're random, as opposed to being grouped by style or fixture type. I really want this to be more of a distinct sensory exhibition, and we even have a daybed in our collection called the Espalda that I put underneath the lights so you could lie down and look up at them.

W*: What does it feel like to walk into that space? What atmosphere does it create for you, personally?

RS: It’s really dramatic, arresting and poetic, when you're in a space that is that singular, has that kind of scale, and has the elegance of those massive arched windows. It’s almost like a concert, because there's all this truss work to be able to make the massive grid to hang these 100 lights. But it starts to disappear, which is why it's so beautiful at the end of day. Because as those lights come up and you are surrounded by them, you start to experience them as more natural or celestial than human made.

W*: Craftsmanship is such an important part of Guild Gallery and all of your products. How do you find the right artisans and craftspeople to transform your design and specifications into commercial products?

RS: It's an intensive process and critical process. Besides the artistry of creating the designs and forms, and then the experience about how the light is performing from these objects, the craftsmanship is everything. I want these lights to outlive us. I really want them to be highly collectible, and so we are very lucky to have a collection of artisans around the world. Many of our metal lights are made in France. But we blow our glass in Brooklyn, and there's a guy in Northern California that also does some beautiful glass blowing. We have a foundry we use in Philadelphia, and another in France.

I have an incredible story to tell you. In the 18th century, Napoleon changed the recipe for how brass and bronze were defined in France, and which was mostly for weaponry and swords. Brass is a combination of copper and zinc, and he wanted a higher copper content, which made it much warmer. This is well documented. So if you look at brass made in the United States or in Asia, you will see it's greener versus the French brass, which is warmer. I went down the rabbit hole when I learned this, and now it’s very important to me to make our lights in France.

So we've been focused on finding people that are focused on doing that. I'm really quite proud of this collection because in each category –glass, cast glass, cast metal – it really pushes the boundaries of craftsmanship. So when you ask, ‘how do we find them?’, it’s just about travelling the world to see who cares enough, who’s focused enough, and who’s still doing it to such a high standard. That kind of precise manufacturing, that artistry, that skill, is really difficult.

We’re lucky enough to have customers – and I think this is important to talk about commercial issues – that say, ‘Oh, there's some spun lights that are a quarter of the price, but they're not made this way. They're not supporting this level of artisanal craft. They're not supporting this level of focus and design.’ Every one of our lights is stamped and signed, and we're trying to create something that has that level of respect, and we think that our customers deserve it.

romanandwilliams.com

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
jamesplumb.co.uk

Light can have a transformative power in an interior, and perhaps, nowhere is it as important as in the bedroom. In this space, the goal is to create a soft, atmospheric glow by layering different light sources, with the bedside lamp playing a pivotal role. As well as providing practical illumination for reading, a bedside lamp can be an opportunity to add colour and pattern, create a cosy ambience with warm, time-honoured materials, or simply create visual balance with a pair of matching statuesque pieces. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on portable designs and warm dimmable LEDs, that seamlessly transition from task to mood lighting, lulling you into a peaceful night's sleep. Looking for something larger? See our edit of floor lamps.

Table lamp Pleated for Frank by Folkform for Svenskst Tenn

Austrian architect and designer Josef Frank believed there should be at least five light sources in each room and that the light should be preferably lower down and at different levels. With this in mind, we believe he would undoubtedly be a fan of Pleated for Frank, the latest addition to the catalogue of Svenkst Tenn—the 100-year-old Stockholm-based brand he helped to establish.

Designed by Swedish studio Folkform, the sculptural lamp is made using a handcrafted pleating technique that puts a contemporary spin on Frank’s well-known prints, including Aristidia (1920s), Brazil (1940s) and Poisons (1940s), as well as a selection of plain linens.

1,168 EUR, Svensktten.com

Fazzo table lamp by In Common With

Home decor enthusiasts will have noticed the proliferation of the full-skirted lampshade in recent years. While most are realised in fabric, the Fazzo lamp by Brooklyn-based lighting design studio In Common With is made from glass. Its hand-blown base is crowned by a billowing shade conjured using the centuries-old fazzoletto technique—where glass is hand-spun to create a form that resembles a fluttering handkerchief.

4,750 USD, incommonwith.com

Faustine table light by Pinch

Launched to celebrate the London design brand’s pop-up gallery in New York, the Faustine light by Pinch is inspired by Eduardo Paolozzi’s plaster sculptures. Its faceted jesmonite base is accentuated by fine recessed lines, which are subtly echoed in the bronze metalwork frame of the abaca fibre and linen shade. “In our own home, and in our studio, we consider lighting much like we consider jewellery,” explain Pinch founders Russel and Oona, “the final flourish that can make a space sing.”

£1,745, pinchdesign.com

Ray lamp by Daniel Schofield for Audo Copenhagen

Using the phrase ‘modern classic’ is something we ordinarily shy away from, but in the case of British designer Daniel Schofield’s portable Ray lamp for Audo Copenhagen, it feels apt. Its simplified silhouette, realised in powder-coated metal and glass, is informed by old mining lamps—the sort used by Schofield’s Grandad who worked in the mines in the north of England and after whom the lamp is named.

€216, audiocph.com

Hotaru Mini Buoy table light by Barber Osgerby

In 2012, while travelling through Japan, Edward Barber visited Ozeki & Co, a renowned paper lantern manufacturer that has been operating since 1891. A conversation with the owner of the family-run business led to the Hotaru project—named after the firefly—which combines traditional production techniques with contemporary design. Awarded the Design Guild Mark in 2024, the table lamps Hotaru Mini Buoy and Double Bubble, are the latest additions to the range, featuring handcrafted washi-paper lanterns, bamboo cane structures and hand-forged cast-iron bases.

£295, twentytwentyone.com

Bagdad portable lamp by Mathieu Matégot for GUBI

With its cubist construction and comet-like tail, it’s hard to believe that the Bagdad lamp was originally designed in 1954. Inspired by Middle Eastern lanterns, the design is the brainchild of French-Hungarian designer Mathieu Matégot, known for using the ‘rigitulle’ technique, where sheet metal is folded and perforated to create a lace-like effect. 70 years later, Danish brand GUBI has reintroduced the multifaceted design with a few 21st-century updates—50 per cent smaller than the original, it’s fitted with a touch-activated dimmer and is conveniently portable.

$399, gubi.com

T40 by Copenhagen Venice

Copenhagen-based Simone Voigt spent over a decade collecting vintage Murano lamps before founding her company Copenhagen Venice in 2020. Specialising in Italian-made lighting designs, the brand’s Vetri Murano series, which includes the T20 table lamp, is crafted in Murano from mouth-blown opaline glass using an original 1970s mould. Completed with hand-casted brass hardware, the lamp’s elegant swirl pattern was selected by Voigt for its clean expression.

€660, copenhagenvenice.com

14p by Bocci

This year, Canadian lighting brand Bocci introduced a portable version of its classic 14 Series, originally launched in 2005. The new edition of the 14p—made of two imperfect poured-glass hemispheres in sepia, clear or grey colourways—brings a candle-like glow to the bedside. 14p is fully wireless, rechargeable and has three dimming levels.

$300, bocci.com

Milano table lamp by Fabian Freytag

A limited edition series, the statuesque MILANO table lamps by Fabian Freytag Studio demonstrate how artificial intelligence and traditional craftsmanship can combine. The stacked concept was originally generated using the AI platform Midjourney before being translated into real technical drawings by Freytag’s studio. During the development process, seven prototypes in two different heights and with various material combinations— including wood, metal, and natural stone—were created. When the lamps were first showcased during Milan Design Week 2024, the grandson of architect and designer Osvaldo Borsani was so impressed he purchased two on the spot. Three are still available via 1st Dibs and the studio is currently working on a new variant made from glazed lava stone, launching soon.

1stdibs.com

Puffball table lamp by Faye Toogood for Mattermade

Like an oversized mushroom cap growing on a chunky stalk, Faye Toogood’s Puffball table lamp for New York brand Matter Made is part of a wider collection of minimal lamps that draw inspiration from the world of wild mushrooms and toadstools. Displaying all the hallmarks of a Toogood design, its curved shade is made of raw fibreglass that gives off a warm luminescent glow, while its base is made from tumbled or painted aluminium.

£5,760, monologuelondon.com

Gathering lamp by Normal Phenomena of Life by Faber Futures x Mitre & Mondays

A limited edition of 10, the portable Gathering lamp is the latest launch from biodesign brand, Normal Phenomena of Life. It’s made from bio-concrete tiles called Biolith®—a remarkable material grown in a lab using a type of bacteria that, at an ambient temperature, can turn sand into a stone that is 20 times lighter and three times stronger than a traditional concrete block, while producing 95% fewer CO2 emissions than conventional cement. In addition, the lamp’s brutalist structure is designed for disassembly, with custom modular parts that can be repaired, replaced, or recycled.

£450, normalphenomena.life

Grau Fire lamp

Grau's Fire lamp is designed to replicate the warming light from a candle or fireplace with its moving light compositions. The design is soft via the curvature of the blown glass head and sleek aluminium body. Functionality is also at the core of the design with cable-free portability and 50 hours of battery life. Perhaps the best quality this lamp possesses is its ability to benefit sleep patterns, as it replicates the glow of a sunset, which optimises your natural biorhythm and eases you to sleep

Writer Tianna Williams

419 €, www.grau.art.com

Legendary lighting designer Ingo Maurer once said, ‘Design is a way of thinking, and lighting is a way of feeling.’ Through their substantial size and scale, floor lamps possess the power to transform a room, commanding attention and creating atmospheric pockets of light and visual interest. They can serve as sculptural statement pieces that draw the eye or as supporting acts that quietly enhance the overall ambience of a space. Our carefully curated selection of standing lamps features designs from the 1930s to the present, united by experimental spirit, tactile materiality, and thoughtfully considered proportions.

‘Meld’ floor lamps by Gather Glass and Emma Payne Ceramics

Emma Payne worked with glassmaker Phoebe Stubbs of Gather Glass to create this modular series of ceramic lamps. Also available in table and cocktail sizes, the lamps are formed of ceramic sections that can be stacked to various heights and configured with multiple lights. The sections are made from textural, ceramic-glazed stoneware while the diffusers are hand-blown glass. ‘We worked out the design through a series of collaborative sketches and material combinations,’ Payne explains. ‘As designer craftsmen, we would work in our separate studios and then meet to show how our works had progressed and developed. The meeting of two materials and two minds.’

From £3,100, emmalouisepayne.com

‘Monoscope’ floor lamp by Allied Maker

Notable for its refined details and buttery tan leather shade that casts a diffused light both upward and downward, the ‘Monoscope’ floor lamp by New York lighting brand Allied Maker exudes a classic sophistication reminiscent of traditional libraries or study rooms. Its disc-shaped shade, crafted from two 18-inch diameter frosted glass panels and encased in soft tan leather, pairs seamlessly with a matching leather-wrapped stem, brass pull chain, and bronze patina metal accents.

From $9,900, alliedmaker.com

‘Madra’ floor lamp by Alara Alkan Studio

Turkish-American designer Alara Alkan describes her work as driven by a deep curiosity for materials and inspired by the transformative effects of tides, wind, and sunlight. Her ‘Madra’ lamp embodies this ethos, pairing an airy linen shade with a substantial, tapered white oak stem to create a harmonious balance of form and material. Designed during Alkan’s residency at New York design gallery Colony – an incubator programme nurturing emerging design talent – the lamp made its debut in June 2024.

goodcolony.com

‘Cellu’ floor lamp by Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen

Created by Danish designer Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen, the ‘Cellu’ floor lamp combines an archetypal form with surprising materials – a shade made from pleated PVC and a chunky column in powder-coated aluminium. The steel base provides stability and an accent of colour. ‘In my design, I try not to add any unnecessary details,’ says Legald of his approach. ‘I work with simplicity by highlighting the necessities instead of hiding them. It gives the product a simple and honest expression.’

£355, available through Heal’s

‘Roattino’ floor lamp by Eileen Gray for ClassiCon

Recalling a bird elegantly perched on one leg, Eileen Gray’s sinuous ‘Roattino’ floor lamp was designed in 1931, its minimalist form standing in bold defiance against the ornate styles of the era. Now produced by German maker ClassiCon, the S-shaped design has gained renewed popularity, featuring a swivelling fabric shade, a new dimming function, and a fresh white colourway.

£2,074 , available through Aram.co.uk

‘Superwire’ by Formafantasma for Flos

Formafantasma’s ‘SuperWire’ lighting collection for Flos was praised far and wide by design devotees when it was launched at Milan Design Week 2024. Including this three-legged floor lamp design, the ‘SuperWire’ lamps are composed of hexagonal modules encased in flat glass panels, all set within a sleek aluminium framework. Inside each module, 12 slender LED strips, protected by spaghetti-sized borosilicate tubes, emit a warm, inviting glow. Formafantasma designed the series with sustainability in mind, allowing the glass panels to be easily removed for simple repair or replacement of the LEDs.

£4,154, available from November on flos.com

‘Cyclopedus’ series by Atelier Malak

Paris-based designer Malacau Lefebvre of Studio Malak strives to create pieces that are, in his words, ‘as expressive as possible’ and imbued with a sense of ‘emotional charge’. For instance, his bent steel ‘Cyclopedus’ lighting collection features floor lamps that, while resembling simple line drawings, carry a striking anthropomorphic quality – like figures curiously craning their necks for a better view.

From €600, Atelier Malak

‘Uptown’ by Ferruccio Laviani for Foscarini

Three slabs of coloured glass in shades of yellow, red and blue are stacked together to create Ferruccio Laviani’s ‘Uptown’ floor lamp for Foscarini. In a composition that recalls a New York skyscraper, the glass blocks overlap, giving rise to new colourful hues that look alluring whether illuminated or not. Introduced in 2019, Laviani says of the design: ‘The art deco and Memphis geometries, the multiple combination possibilities afforded by glass and the 1960s-style glass slab accessories… the list of what inspired “Uptown” could go on forever. I wanted to convey the intrinsic wealth of the material, its unique way of conveying transparency and colour.’

£3,846, available through Lamp Twist

‘Callimaco’ by Ettore Sottsass for Artemide

With its bold colours, unconventional form and playful details, the ‘Callimaco’ floor lamp, designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1982, epitomises the spirit of the Memphis movement, which Sottsass helped to establish. The lamp's design includes a chrome-plated handle, a sleek painted aluminium stem, and a painted steel cone-shaped diffuser, recalling the silhouette of a trumpet. A true piece of design history.

£1,415, available through Madeindesign.co.uk and Twentytwentyone.com

‘Dórica’ by Jordi Miralbell and Mariona Raventós for Santa & Cole

Inspired by classical columns and named after the Doric order in architecture, the ‘Dórica’ lamp was designed by Spanish designers Jordi Miralbell and Mariona Raventós for Santa & Cole in 1994. Its enduring appeal lies in the thoughtful simplicity of its crafted details and blend of warm materials – a cotton ribbon shade, a sturdy bronze structure, and a leather cord grip. Raventós once said, ‘Design is the art of making the utilitarian into a desired thing, into human warmth, into something generated by man,’ a sentiment beautifully embodied in this piece.

£1,578, available through Lamp Twist and SCP

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

In partnership with Lodes

Blending design, art and technology, Taiwan-born designer Chia-Ying Lee’s work spans from products to installations. ‘Random Cloud’, her latest project for Venetian lighting company Lodes, is a contemporary play on the notion of a chandelier, conceived as an evolution of the brand’s ‘Random Solo’ pendant light and connecting multiple glass pendants to a central canopy.

Lodes’ ‘Random Cloud’ contemporary chandelier

The new chandelier’s pendants can be grouped to create ‘clouds’ of seven, 14, 19, or 23 lights via cables cut to various lengths. Each glass sphere is sized at 23cm or 28cm in diameter and the clusters are available in seven colour schemes, resulting in a fluid and elegant luminescent composition.

‘“Random Cloud” catches the essence of why a cloud keeps fascinating us: voluminous yet weightless and floating,’ explains its designer. ‘To be able to express these contradictory [characteristics] with a very simple formation is a joy for me.’

Thanks to the light source emanating from a 3W LED module (available with two ‘colour temperatures’, 2,700 or 3,000K) hidden in a silicon housing at the top of each glass sphere, each pendant is illuminated evenly – the larger the cluster, the bigger the light output.

With its wide choice of configurations, ‘Random Cloud’ is both a high-performance light source and an arresting, decorative object, adding a focal point to entryways, living rooms and dining areas.

‘“Random” has been part of our collection since 2017,’ says Massimiliano Tosetto, managing director of Lodes, which has been designing and producing lighting solutions for interiors and exteriors since 1950, and today fuses contemporary design and innovative technology with high-quality materials. ‘We are pleased to extend this statement piece into a dynamic, eye-catching chandelier.’

lodes.com

This series of rechargeable LED Murano lights sees jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge team with Green Wolf Studios’ founder Rebecca Marks to create jewels for the home. Azagury-Partridge is known for her painterly use of colour and fondness for playful emblems, and each of the new portable lights is a vessel for her ‘dreamy little stories’.

The Green Wolf Lighting by Solange Azagury-Partridge collection is modelled on the cylindrical, rechargeable, LED hand-blown Murano glass lights that Green Wolf Studios launched in September 2022.  ‘The shapes and outer shell were predetermined, so they’re very similar to a scented candle, not too obtrusive on a table over dinner,’ Azagury-Partridge tells us.

Each of the five Murano lights comes in a numbered limited edition of 1,000. The ‘Eden', the ‘Rainbow' and the ‘Sun’ lights are sculpted with molten glass using Venetian precision-craft ‘il vetro a lume’ methods. However, finding artisans able to realise these complex designs proved challenging, and Azagury-Partridge and Marks admit there were many iterations of the ‘Cloud’ light, for instance, crafted from pink blown glass and later sandblasted, before it was right.

Some early prototypes even resembled a brain. The ’Home’ light with its red roof and yellow and blue painted windows depicting a miniature cottage, required a special mould, which only one specialised Murano craftsman could make.

During this process, there were parallels with jewellery making. ‘When it came to crafting the “Sun” light, I was able to suggest a way of creating the flames because of the approach I had taken designing jewellery pieces in the past. He ended up using it,’ says Azagury-Partridge, who considers the collection of colour-popping lights to be ‘jewels for the home’.

She first collaborated with Marks in June 2020 on a project that involved recasting the walls of a contemporary art space at Christie’s, The Rainbow Room, using vivid shades of velvet. ‘Getting on well and trusting someone is such a huge part of the creative process,’ notes Marks. As for her favourite light from the collection: ‘It's the “Cloud”. I've got it in my bedroom, by my family photos. It's the last thing I turn off when I go to bed.’

Green Wolf Lighting by Solange Azagury-Partridge. From £550 per light, abask.com and greenwolflighting.com

French luxury lighting editor Ozone and Dominique Perrault Architecture have been neighbours for years. Truly neighbours – Ozone’s offices literally overlook the roof of Perrault’s studio in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. 

But they didn’t know it until a mutual friend introduced them two years ago and they decided to collaborate. Etienne Gounot and Eric Jähnke, Ozone’s co-founders, had long admired the desk lamp that Perrault’s firm designed for the Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand in the 1990s. Made of aluminium, it is a deceptively simple-looking structure of right angles and flat, intersecting planes. 

Gounot recalls, ‘We very much liked the geometry, which is both strong and functional. When we met Dominique and Gaëlle [Lauriot-Prévost, Perrault’s personal and professional partner], we thought, why don’t we start with that? We proposed it, and they said, bingo.’

Ozone and Dominique Perrault: the ‘Furtiv’ collection

A desk lamp was the first object they designed for the new collection, called ‘Furtiv’. Gounot says, ‘We used the same proportions as the original, which is a bit bigger than you’re used to seeing. This oversized aspect gives it a monumental feel that pleased us – it’s really an object.’

And a heavy one, too, crafted in solid aluminium, aside from a slim tube hidden inside for the cord. ‘The weight lends it nobility,’ says Lauriot-Prévost, giving the lamp a gentle push to show that it also provides stability, despite the cantilevered shape.

Having designed a number of high-end industrial lamps, the architect was impressed by Ozone’s manufacturing skills. The company (which edits designs by the likes of Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Glenn Sestig) has an onsite workshop and collaborates with highly specialised artisans around Paris. Their careful attention to detail includes perfectly flush joints that are never soldered.

In addition to the desk lamp, ‘Furtiv’ comes as a standing lamp slightly taller than the arm of a sofa, a ceiling light in two different heights, and a wall sconce. Each model is available in a choice of two finishes: shiny mirrored or brushed aluminium.

The collection’s name refers to the way the lamp seems to vanish, notably when the light bounces off the various mirrored surfaces. 'It’s amazing how it reflects its environment,' says Lauriot-Prévost. 'Wherever you put it, the design disappears. So it works in a very contemporary environment, and in classic buildings, too.'

It’s also practical. Light filters through a laminated sheet of textured handmade paper, and a tiny button integrated into one side of the lamp adjusts the LED bulb from barely-there to reader-friendly. Lauriot-Prévost demonstrates that you can lay a book on top of the standing lamp, like a table, or place it upright against the rectangular body of the desk lamp. 'It’s not a sacred object,' she says. 'It’s meant to be used.'

‘Furtiv’ is on display in Paris at Galerie Downtown/François Laffanour, and available from ozonelight.com

Galerie Downtown/François Laffanour
18 Rue de Seine,
75006 Paris

In partnership with Lumina

Lighting design has a miraculous, transformative effect on interiors. Its perception-altering properties illuminate spaces and drive emotions, defining architectural forms and changing moods. Arranged with intelligence and elegance, driven by technology and thoughtful industrial design, artificial lighting creates atmosphere and a positive sense of wellbeing.

Based in Arluno, near Milan, Lumina puts light’s industrial magic to the fore. Founded in 1980 by mechanical engineer Tommaso Cimini, the company retains his original insight – ‘Lots of light, not much lamp’ – as its inspiration and mission statement; function generates form and technology, at the service of performance and durability. It’s about light and design, in that order

Since Cimini first developed the prototype of the ‘Daphine’ lamp back in the 1970s – a design that went on to become the company’s earliest, signature product and a modern icon of Italian design – the Lumina workshop in Sedriano (a few kilometres from Arluno) has become a hub of innovation and imagination.

Characterised by three basic elements: a slender articulated arm, a small adjustable diffuser, and a transformer, deliberately unconcealed on the base, the ‘Daphine’ is still admired and used all over the world, featuring in the permanent collections of major design and contemporary art museums including the Brooklyn Museum and the Judd Foundation in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, and The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Thanks to loyalty to the spirit of its founder and rigorous production methods, Lumina has been able to establish partnerships with world-class designers and architects. Working in collaboration with Foster + Partners, the company has designed lamps of beauty, simplicity and sophisticated engineering: the ‘Eva’ table lamp and its little sister ‘Eve’; the ‘Flo’ reading lamp; ‘Dot’, the ethereal pendant lamp; and, introduced in 2022, the ‘Tia’ suspension lamp.

With architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, meanwhile, Lumina developed ‘Anima’, an elegant and charismatic reinterpretation of the abat-jour table lamp.


Now run by designer Ettore Cimini, son of Tommaso, Lumina stays true to its original ethos. ‘Light is the most important of our raw materials,’ says Ettore. ‘Its quality remains the basis of our projects.’

Lumina’s strengths are its short supply chain, in-house engineering and prototyping, and a combining of avant-garde technological processes and artisanal attention to detail, durability and impeccable workmanship. Made in Italy, Lumina lamps are sold in 104 countries through an international network of selected multi-brand retailers.

The company builds on its know-how by employing the methods and processes of a circular economy: maximum focus on saving and recycling resources, the selection of noble materials like aluminium, steel and glass (plastic only where indispensable), and designing lamps to last, be repairable and with components fully disassemblable at the end of the product’s life (Design for Disassembly). Lumina is powered from renewable sources, having a solar-power system covering its energy requirement.

‘Lumina lamps are iconic,’ says Ettore Cimini. ‘They spring from our work ethic and are faithful representations of our production capability. State-of-the-art technologies achieving optimum synthesis between form and function.’

lumina.it

To celebrate five years of the Halo Edition project, Mandalaki Studio has released an exclusive collection to add to its lighting repertoire, titled Halo Anniversary. Limited to 99 pieces per year, this new addition is a redesign of the original Halo Evo model, with each custom mirror finished with hand-polishing, and embellished with stainless steel and aluminium.

Halo Edition lamp brings the sunset to a room

The original design came about five years ago, after the Milan-based studio decided to deep-dive into the world of ‘natural’ lighting by researching nature's own illuminating characteristics, from bright sunrises to the warm afterglow of a sunset. Not limited to solar inspiration, the company has also explored the details of moonlight, eclipse glows, and the cosmos, bringing together science and art.

Other designs include an easily movable Halo Mini, and the Halo Giga, which is five times more powerful than the original lamp, and used for the purpose of creating expansive lighting installations.

The Halo Anniversary is designed to be sleek and minimal, with its projected light to be centre of attention, adding an ethereal glow to a room. Delicate stainless steel, featherweight aluminium, and mineral glass were used to create this edition, resulting in a slim stem and a sturdy base, with an adjustable head to project light as desired.

The lamp itself comes in three shades – Sunset Red, Deep Blue, and Horizon – and casts a mystical glow as its projected light bends and moulds in harmony with surfaces it encounters. 

The project adds to Mandalaki Studio’s various Halo collections, spanning different sizes and shapes, all celebrating the drama of nature’s own light.

Shop Halo Edition lamps via Lamptwist.com

haloedition.com

For the October 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, we selected the highlights from Euroluce at Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2023. Our edit includes new products from big shots such as Lasvit, Cassina and Flos, as well as independent studios such as Pelle and Ross Gardam, and was photographed using both digital and film techniques by our long-term collaborator Luke Evans. 

‘The process of composing and lighting the lamps in the studio was so exciting,’ explains Wallpaper* head of interiors Olly Mason. ‘By shooting them on film we were able to add this layer of process to the series, inverting the images of the lamps so that their lightness became shadow, and producing this optical contrast and surface texture.’ Mason then spent a day in the darkroom with Luke playing with light and darkness, exploring the printed qualities, softness and textures created through film and printing, to stunning effect.

Discover the brightest new lighting design

‘Polaris’ floor lamp, by David Rockwell, for Lasvit

This stellar floor lamp is part of Constellation, a collection by American architect and designer David Rockwell. The New York-based founder of the cross-disciplinary firm the Rockwell Group was inspired by one of his favourite local landmarks, the celestial mural at Grand Central Terminal, which features over 2,500 stars set against a turquoise backdrop. Hand-crafted in metal and glass, the ‘Polaris’ lamp is available in bespoke configurations. ‘What defined this collaboration for me was the sheer passion of Lasvit’s team of experts and the joy of creation we shared at each step in the process,’ says Rockwell. ‘Each lighting fixture serves a dual function: to dazzle the eye as a focal point and to unify any setting in which it is placed.’

‘Polaris’ floor lamp, price on request, by David Rockwell, for Lasvit
lasvit.com

‘Pool 02’ lamp, by Laurids Gallée

This limited-edition polymer resin light is made in the Netherlands by Laurids Gallée, an Austrian designer and Design Academy Eindhoven graduate now based in Rotterdam. Since launching his eponymous studio in 2017, Gallée has explored new ways to incorporate traditional and folkloric elements, and experimented with various materials. A recent focus on resin has seen him create a side table with a grid pattern, a monolithic ceiling light, a translucid bench and, in 2023, this ice blue ‘Pool 02’ lamp, which turns a warm yellow when switched on. Its fluid shape and soft ridges create an eye-catching effect that recalls the ever-changing way light is reflected on water.

‘Pool 02’ lamp, price on request, by Laurids Gallée
lauridsgallee.com

‘Dreispitz’ lamp, by Herzog & de Meuron, for Artemide 

This graphically pleasing pendant by Herzog & de Meuron (who have an exhibition at London’s RA until 15 October 2023) is available in understated black and silver, but also in a striking bright green version. Originally designed for the Swiss architects’ Helsinki Dreispitz (‘tricorn’) project, an archive and apartment building in Basel, it can support three different light sources that slide into its triangular base to form an almost clover-shaped profile. With a choice of four different lengths, and diffused or controlled lighting, it is designed to fit into any environment. It is also good for the environment, thanks to its high efficiency, intelligent industrial optimisation and the use of partially recycled, recyclable and easily dismantled materials. 

‘Dreispitz’ lamp, price on request, by Herzog & de Meuron, for Artemide
artemide.com

‘W225 Ion’ lamp, by Dirk Winkel, for Wästberg

This deceptively simple design from Wästberg, a Swedish brand with a focus on creating wellbeing through good light, is the result of years of research. Behind its understated lines, thought up by Berlin designer Dirk Winkel, lies a beautifully configurable system. It centres around a highly sophisticated miniature friction joint with cordless power connection, which is similar to those used in modern laptops and allows 360-degree rotation. A choice of arms in two different lengths, combined with various mounting options and two different optical systems, allows for a range of uses, from wide-angle workspace illumination to focused bedside reading. The state-of-the-art full-spectrum COB LED provides stunning light, further refined by a high-quality lens or reflector with prismatic diffuser. 

‘W225 Ion’ lamp, price on request, by Dirk Winkel, for Wästberg
wastberg.com

‘Vestige’ table lamp, by Ross Gardam and Peter Kovacsy, for Ross Gardam

This optical device by Melbourne label Ross Gardam was conceived to create a sense of wonderment. Featuring a solid parabolic cone with a concave face that emerges from a rectangular base, the brutalist-inspired sculptural form is made from cast crystal glass by renowned artist Peter Kovacsy, whose work in large-scale cast glass reflects the remote area of southern Western Australia where he is based. Celebrating the allure, texture, and volume of glass (bubbles in the glass create a speckled pattern when illuminated), each cast glassform is coupled with a raw aluminium base and machined conical dimmer, handmade, polished and waxed. ‘Vestige’ is available in a limited edition of five.

‘Vestige’ table lamp, A$39,545 ($25,683), by Ross Gardam and Peter Kovacsy, for Ross Gardam
rossgardam.com.au

‘44T’ table lamp, by Bocci

No two ‘44T’ lamps are identical: each aluminium canopy is variously blown, poured, carved and polished, and is an individual, irregular expression of Bocci’s research. In fact, the dendrite-like shapes were a happy discovery, initially made by pouring discarded molten iron in a bin of broken sand moulds. What’s more, the unique design features spherical light bulbs that glow without the need of electrical cables, as low-voltage electricity flows directly through the cast metal structure. There is of course a main cable to plug it in, but this element is as sculptural as the rest of the design, since its semi-rigid black fabric cord means it can be twisted into a pleasing shape to complement the organic lamp. The series also include an integral dimming system housed within a sleek brass cylinder. 

‘44T’ table lamp, $975, by Bocci
bocci.com

‘Channel’ lamp, by Pelle

Best known for its iconic ‘Bubble’ chandelier, Pelle was founded by Jean and Oliver Pelle in 2011. Its designs often look to nature for inspiration (and include architectural ornaments made from soap), but in the case of the ‘Channel’ lamp, the Brooklyn-based studio’s starting point was a practical concern: how to properly illuminate a large table surface, and brighten the overall room at the same time? The resulting ceiling fixture comprises a sleek horizontal body in waxed brush aluminium that holds four lighting components, with two beams facing upward, and another two facing downward. Completing the design are a pair of thin steel cables that double up as power conduits. 

‘Channel’ lamp, from $10,800, by Pelle
pelledesigns.com

‘Vis à Vis’ table lamp, by Michele Groppi, for Davide Groppi

A translucent UFO landing softly on your tabletop, Michele Groppi’s ‘Vis à Vis’ lamp is designed to perfectly integrate into any environment and décor. Entirely made of glass, it is totally transparent, from the thin cylindrical stem to the circular canopy, and appears to float lightly above the room. Being rechargeable (with a simple USB C charger), it can be moved around and illuminates everything without an electric cable in sight. It is part of a long line of truly stunning designs magicked up by the award-winning Davide Groppi team in Piacenza, Emilia Romagna, which range from perfectly poised, fishing rod-inspired floor lamps to a giant, meditative moon ceiling pendant.

‘Vis à Vis’ table lamp, price on request, by Michele Groppi, for Davide Groppi
davidegroppi.com

‘Bilboquet’ table lamps, by Philippe Malouin, for Flos

Philippe Malouin’s first design for Flos, this new table lamp has a unique concept based on Malouin’s experiments with magnetic elements. Taking its name and shape from the bilboquet, a French game dating from the 16th century, it comprises two coloured cylinders connected through a sleek magnetic sphere that allows the lamp to be oriented as required while also serving as a poetic decorative element. ‘The design is about changing your lighting needs throughout the day,’ says Malouin. ‘It can be used as a desk lamp, but if you just want to have drinks in your living room, you can bounce the light off of the wall to create a soft glow. I have always admired “Parentesi” by Castiglioni and the lamp’s way to change the light to achieve different moods – and this is very much what this light does.’

‘Bilboquet’ table lamps, price on request, by Philippe Malouin, for Flos
flos.com

'Dipping’ pendant, by Jordi Canudas, for Marset

Spanish designers never shy from using bold colours in their creations, and Jordi Canudas is no exception. As an experiment, the Barcelona-based designer once dipped a switched-on light-bulb in paint several times. He liked the result so much that the ‘Dipping’ pendant light was born. Available in three different sizes, it features a brilliant white hand-blown glass globe, hand-dipped in paint several times to create concentric rings of colour, in amber, blue, green, pink, off-white and black versions. The different layers of paint help to moderate the light’s intensity, while a polycarbonate cover at the top completes the spherical shape. ‘

Dipping’ pendant, price on request, by Jordi Canudas, for Marset
marset.com

‘Bijou’ pendants, by Antoni Arola, for Santa & Cole, and ‘Eitie’ table lamp and pendant, by Tobia Scarpa, for Cassina  

Named after the French word for jewel, this gem of a pendant light (pictured in red, centre) provides exceptional lighting and mesmerising reflections. Like all of Barcelona-based designer Antoni Arola’s creations, it is a bold and dramatic design that fits in perfectly with Spanish brand Santa & Cole’s carefully curated, minimalist lighting collection. The latest in a collection of geometric brass lights first launched in 2019, the ‘Bijou’ pendant features two vertical spotlights positioned on either side of a metal plate to create a sense of depth designed to enhance the entire space. Its glossy shade is available in white or red finishes, and two sizes. 

‘Bijou’ large pendant, €1,180; small, €820, both by Antoni Arola, for Santa & Cole, santacole.com

The Venetian designer and architect Tobia Scarpa initially created ‘Eitie’ (also pictured) as a wall installation for the walls of the Benetton Foundation Research Centre, which he has been involved with since its creation in 1987 (working with his wife Afra, he has designed and renovated many buildings for the Italian company since their first collaboration in 1964). Comprising a pendant light, table lamp and floor lamp, the ‘Eitie’ collection riffs on the idea of luminous strokes that can be reconfigured thanks to unique black metal circular connectors. Each seemingly simple design is composed of two or three linear lights that can be moved around and rotated 360 degrees to create different visual effects.

‘Eitie’ table lamp and pendant, both price on request, by Tobia Scarpa, for Cassina cassina.com

A version of this article appears in the October 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today