Craft Matters - Max Rollitt and Chris Cox
At 6pm on Thursday 1 October, a pre-recorded conversation between Chris Cox and Max Rollitt went live on the London Craft Week website.
Max Rollitt, an interior designer and antiques dealer with a wealth of experience in making and restoration joins Chris in Cox London's north London studio to discuss why craft matters.
From their early experiences of craft to traditional techniques in our modern age, the duo will leave you wanting more.
Foscarini launches new range in Milan
(Italy) - During Milano Design City, Foscarini presents a range of new offerings – table, floor and suspension lamps designed by Rodolfo Dordoni, Marc Sadler, Ludovica & Roberto Palomba, Tord Boontje – in a special installation created by Ferruccio Laviani for the spaces of the showroom on Corso Monforte.
Among the new developments, Twiggy by Marc Sadler has been updated with great elegance, brandishing a diffuser in an unusual material: wood. Lumiere by Rodolfo Dordoni, reaching its 30th anniversary in 2020, celebrates by taking on unexpected finishes, produced with two traditional glassblowing techniques that give rise to two new versions in a special signed and numbered edition.
Ludovica & Roberto Palomba present Bump for the occasion, a new irregular, organic suspension lamp, and a special dual interpretation of Birdie, a popular model that is now offered in a version specially conceived for the hospitality sector. Finally, the Sun - Light of Love suspension lamp by Tord Boontje stands out for its forceful decorative and theatrical impact, and its two identities expressed through different gold or white colouring.
“Every time I think about new displays for Foscarini Spazio Monforte, I do it as if I had to create an installation inside a gallery”, says Ferruccio Laviani, “where the pure spaces permit any type of setting, allowing you to radically change the tone through the language of the various displays and the collections of lamps utilised. For this occasion, I have imagined a free, empty space where elements in natural wood fill the setting, creating pathways between abstract, almost childish forms that multiply in space, becoming simultaneously dividers and backdrops between one lamp and the next”.
The natural concrete of the showroom, the sculptural forms of the parts in natural poplar and the technology of the products on view all intersect to become a harmonious whole, a single language that narrates the story of Foscarini, as in a book of fables: every page tells of different, intimate worlds and universes.
Milano Design City will also provide a chance to listen to the designers talk about their new projects for Foscarini, in a series of live appointments moderated by Laura Traldi, on the Instagram channel @foscarinilamps:
Tuesday 29 September, h. 13.00 | Roberto Palomba introduces the new BUMP suspension lamp
Friday 2 October, h. 12.30 | Marc Sadler presents the new TWIGGY WOOD
Monday 5 October, h. 13.00 | Ludovica Serafini talks about BIRDIE EASY and ZERO
Friday 9 October, h. 13.00 | Tord Boontje comments on SUN - Light of Love
David Weeks collaborates with Tala
(UK) - The Reflection range is the first in a trilogy of design collaborations between award-winning New York designer, David Weeks, and London-based lighting brand, Tala.
Representing Tala’s first international design collaboration, David Weeks has offered a playful take on some of Tala’s most celebrated luminaire designs, composing four sophisticated table lamps that reflect the form and finish of the light bulbs.
Reflection will officially launch online and from selected retailers from December 2020.
Sourced from some of the world’s premium porcelain material, the semi-translucent porcelain is hand-thrown and twice-fired to facilitate the reflective glaze that adorns the top third of the lamp and defines the piece. Meanwhile, each lamp is hand adjusted and measured to ensure a perfect fit with the lamp, achieving a beautiful symmetry between the lamp and the light source.
Complete with an inline dimmer, the lamps showcase Tala’s typical high-performance LED dimming, further enhancing the playful nature of the lamp.
Weeks says: “I wanted to make a modern, less frilly version of a side lamp wherein the shape of the bulb makes up the volume of the form. The porcelain base has an organic softness that still feels very clean and unfussy. We circled the joint of the lamp with a high gloss glaze, a subtle detail that really activates the innate elegance of its modest form.
“Asymmetry is achieved by working backward, starting at the end. We decide where we want the bulbs to go and then solve the problem of getting them there. This way awkwardness always has remedy; it gets reconciled along the way. The result is off-kilter but wholly balanced.
“Collaborating with Tala was a really energising experience for us. Because we make so much of what we do, our quantities are necessarily limited by our capacity. It’s exciting to be working on a bigger scale, bringing more product to more people. There’s a real sense of opportunity in freeing up design from so much of the making, finding new ways of tapping into the rhythm of the studio.”
Marking a first exploration away from the wood and metal-based fixtures that have defined Tala’s catalogue thus far, the delicate and exquisite finish of the lamps represent a new chapter for the brand, spearheaded by new CEO, Eric Magun. He writes: "Partnering with David was a natural fit for the brand, as we look to elevate the LED bulb by honouring it in its most natural form. The Reflection series is exactly that, an artistic impression of a light form, deliberate on materials used, and a meditation of what it means to celebrate conservation through beauty."
Two further design ranges by David Weeks, ‘Echo’ and ‘Mirage’ will launch in 2021.
Tekna - Astone Collection
The latest collection from Tekna focuses on a sustainable material; natural stone. The Astone collection was an original concept by the studio’s CEO Maxim Blijweert as a solution for a product that was originally designed for brass but ended up being too difficult to produce in that material. In-house designer Kevin De Koning explains the product's evolution from brass to stone: “He [Blijweert] thought a solid marble fixture would be something fresh and different. After the first prototype came in, we were all blown away by the result. We looked at some other products we already had that would accompany this product nicely and had those made in marble as well."
Blijweert describes the products as “The harmony of art, craftsmanship, advanced technology and lighting… This is what the Astone Collection strives for.
“In addition to the well-known materials including bronze, brass and glass, we are now adding a fourth sustainable material: natural stone. This noble material makes every product unique; no two are the same. "Each product starts as a solid block of stone, which is chiselled, ground and milled into a beautiful shape and is incomparable. Every block tells its own story, the veins, the colours, the textures… All orchestrated by the forces of nature millions of years ago,” he says. “In close cooperation with our in-house designer and one of the world’s leading natural stone companies, we transform these treasures of raw materials into unique and high-quality designed lighting. The Astone Collection allows us to be creative with colours, textures and shapes.”
Working with stone came as a new challenge for the Tekna team, as De Koning explains: “To make fixtures in marble takes a different mindset entirely. For instance, when you need to bolt something together you can’t just thread the hole like you can in bronze. We were discovering the limits of the material as well as the uniqueness of it.
“We want to put the focus on the marble as much as we can,” he adds. “However, brass is what we are known for, so we couldn’t resist using this in combination with the marble. The design process was about learning as much as it was about designing. There are limits of what you can do with both marble and brass, so it was very unique in that way. You can do things in marble that are just (economically) impossible to do in brass, and vice versa.”
Admiring the product as an investment piece designed to last decades, the team decided to keep the concept as simple as possible, and not overload it with various new technology that runs the risk of becoming outdated. “For these first products we have been fairly conservative - the emphasis is on the materials and the design,” says Blijweert. De Koning adds: “A Rembrandt doesn’t glow in the dark, a Michelangelo doesn’t use Bluetooth. We want to avoid making our products too gadget-like."
Best suited to modern interiors, the marble bases come in a selection of neutral and brighter colours for added choice. “The materials and details are near and dear to our heart,” concludes De Koning. “Whereas some other companies go to aluminium and stainless steel, we stick with brass and bronze. Our products aren’t made by robots but by craftsmen who eat, breathe and live for brass. The detail and care we put in our products when designing and producing them is what sets us apart.”
Chelsom - LED Eye
Specialists in product design for the hospitality market and servicing hotel and cruise ship projects worldwide, the family run business Chelsom began its lighting journey back in 1947 when Reg and Kay Chelsom opened their first small antique lighting shop in Blackpool, UK, under the name The Golden Age. Quickly expanding to three shops, the duo began to manufacture reproduction period lighting, distributed across the UK to retailers and interior designers. Passing on the lighting legacy, their son Robert took over the business in the 1970s, bringing the company to the forefront of hospitality lighting. In succession, his son, Will was next in line to join the family business in 2006, introducing Chelsom products into the marine industry, doubling their clientele. Father and son Robert and Will now work closely on the design side of the company, creating some of its most respected lighting collections.
Talking with darc, Robert and Will discuss their latest design for Chelsom, LED Eye; the sequel to the globally successful LED Dock.
After creating the iconic bedside reading light, LED Dock, the design intent for LED Eye came from LED Dock’s previous years of experience in successfully lighting hotel guestrooms. Trying to create something inconspicuous and striking at the same time was a big design challenge when creating LED Dock; at the time, the team didn’t know this product would quickly become the most successful seller for enhancing hotel room designs in more than 30 countries worldwide.
As part of Chelsom’s latest collection, Edition 27 that launches at the end of September this year, Will and Robert wanted to move the aesthetics of the bedside reading lamp onwards with LED Eye, while maintaining all the successful features of function and light output of the LED Dock. The starting point was to create a product that was inconspicuous, nestled successfully into a headboard with minimum projection but still a stylish addition to the bedroom’s scheme.
Further developments led to the concept of ‘the eye’ evolving, with a compact and slim outer vessel of steel and aluminium; a sculptured cast metal piece acting as an eyelid that invites users to open, revealing the eye of the luminaire, illuminating and giving a full range of movement to orientate the perfect light spill. Much time and engineering skill went into the prototype development, ensuring that the cast centrepiece revolves and rotates with the lightest of touches and can be easily opened to operate the microswitch, and closed to extinguish the light.
“Aluminium was used for the sculptured central eye in order for it to be manufactured with die casting,” explains the design duo. “Had it been a flat sheet it would not have had the tactile appeal and we would not have been able to create the sculptured eyelid. Steel has been used for strength and durability, ensuring a long life of contract use. Both materials can be plated to exactly the same finish.
“Detailed engineering technology was used to create the movement system. The light source swivels 80° left and right and 90° forward. High quality LED warm white chips were specified to emit light through a high-quality focussing lens,” they continue.
After the initial design concept, the main decision was to make absolutely certain that the movement and rotation function was smooth and easy to use. Significant time and investment went into the internal rotation system to ensure the central part glides into the required position.”
The labour of love for the father and son team saw this design process completed within an 18-month period and believe the design is best suited to the “hotel guestroom and cruise ship cabins for bedside use as headboard located reading lights”. It is also designed with this audience’s budget in mind, making it an accessible addition to many interior design schemes. They also saw this particular project as one of their most “exciting, challenging, ever-changing and rewarding products to work with”. The highly tactile moulded centrepiece remains extremely slim with a subtle curve at the bottom edge. Once opened, the warm white LED light passes through the focusing lens to create perfect reading light. CE and UL certified, the product comes in six different finishes; matte white, brushed brass, brushed nickel, satin black, and combination options in brushed nickel with satin black and brushed brass with satin black, giving a contrast between the outer vessel and internal moulded eye.
rlon - Syntax
rlon presents Syntax, a minimal yet powerful socket system that takes tube bulbs to a new level.
The Syntax s14 socket is designed to be compatible with all kinds of suspensions, rods, brackets and other typical mounting points in architecture. This compatibility makes it easy and efficient to create unique lamps and light art installations with tube bulbs in almost any setting.
Linea Light Group launch Spotify channel
(Italy) - Linea Light Group launches new podcast series on Spotify.
In its new podcast series, it will host lighting designers from the national and international scene who will put their voice, talent and passion at listeners' disposal.
In its first episode that went live on 21 September, Fulvio Baldeschi, owner of the lighting design studio Light Company, will introduce listeners to the theme of organic light, explaining what it consists of and how to manage and integrate it into various environments.
Listen to the first episode here: open.spotify.com/episode/5kJnS19K1oKLpHC6fcruHi
Light Reach launches Light for Lebanon
(Lebanon) – Light for Lebanon is a new partnership between Light Reach and Manale Kahale.
On 4 August, the largest non-nuclear explosion in history tore through Beirut, destroying homes, businesses and entire neighbourhoods in the Lebanese capital city – once dubbed the Parish of the Middle East.
The blast killed more than 180 people, injured 6,000 and left more than 500,000 residents in immediate need of basic support. It damaged 80% of the residential buildings and infrastructure within a 1-2-mile radius, including 50,000 residential units, and tipped an already unstable electrical infrastructure into partial collapse, plunging much of the city into darkness after sunset.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Light Reach and Lebanese lighting designer and activist Manale Kahale have partnered to launch Light for Lebanon – a new programme that will aim to immediately support communities in Beirut with solar lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor use, helping to bring some light back to the city.
Kahale contacted Light Reach to assist her in her drive to bring solar-powered lighting to the damaged areas.
Led by Nathalie Rozot of PhoScope, the global charity initiative Light Reach uses a proven replicable and expandable project model to support global communities affected by light poverty with stationary and portable solar lighting products.
“Our existing replicable and scalable model is readily adaptable to quickly bring some illumination to the darkened streets, without having to wait for grid restoration or construction,” said Rozot.
Light for Lebanon is seeking donations to help in its efforts. More information can be found at www.lightreach.net/light-for-lebanon.
Yair Neuman launches Lens Light at LDF
(UK) - Yair Neuman launched his Lens Light collection during the London Design Festival.
The Lens Lights are a positive action to repurpose waste lenses from the eyewear sector into striking, sculptural lights. It is a collaboration with eyewear brand Cubitts and was installed at their Coal Drops Yard shop until 20th September 2020.
The Lens Light collection comprised six designs made from an innovative material developed by Yair Neuman, and each piece was unique. At Cubitts, as with most eyewear stores, frames are displayed with dummy ‘plano’ lenses that are replaced with prescription lenses once selected by the customer. Made from optical grade Polycarbonate, plano lenses are a waste product usually destined for landfill.
Experimenting in his London studio, Yair Neuman developed a method to fuse the lenses into a sheet material. He created texture in the pressed sheets by working with the lens form and curve direction. Neuman then shaped the sheets using jigs, manual moulding and freehand, to create the lights. The material captures and emits light, with its gleaming iridescent surfaces. Embedded filters in the lenses mean colours change depending on the viewing angle, giving a sense of dynamism. The Lens Light collection includes hanging spheres, single and conjoined, flower lamps, pendants, a fan-shaped base light, and a vase light.
Yair Neuman says: “Witnessing the enormous waste generated in the processes of selling eyewear was the beginning of this project. A small optician’s shop bins 200 new display lenses a week on average. By simply collecting these lenses, experimenting to make a new material, we now have, in effect, a new supply chain. Cubitts has been singular in their support to make this installation happen. Most of all the Lens Lights are designed to be aesthetically pleasing, thought-provoking and honest.”
Neuman’s strong belief that ethical making should come first in the conception of products is in line with Cubitts’ own sustainability philosophy, which puts reducing their environmental impact at the centre of their product development. This philosophy has seen Cubitts experiment with frame making from waste materials such as potato peelings and sheep’s wool, and more recently in the development of new accessories that include spectacle cleaning cloths made from recycled plastic bottles, spectacle cases cut from a pattern that utilises every bit of fabric, and spectacle chains made from their own acetate offcuts.
The Lens Light collection is the latest of Yair Neuman’s work bringing a strong ethical edge to contemporary design and is his first eponymous first collection. These hand-crafted pieces are for sale, prices start at £900 for flower lamps. The installation ran from 12 - 20 September 2020.
The Invisible Collection reveal Laura Gonzalez' debut
(France) - The Invisible Collection announce Laura Gonzalez’ debut, an eclectic collection crafted between France and Portugal.
In keeping with Gonzalez’ signature style, the collection is characterised by an artful fusion of genre, print and pattern - designed to spark joy in the unexpected.
From the striking, decorative Casa Sofa, which has its roots in classicism, to the alluring modern-take-on-a-classic Pondicheéry and Madras chairs, inspired by painted Indian wooden pieces from the close of the 19th century - Gonzalez’ emblematic pieces exude confidence and craftsmanship.
Also included in the collection is the sculptural Lilypad Chandelier, made from textured green glass sculpture, with brass and plaster finishes. Bespoke colours of the glass include green, amber, blue and transparent upon request.
Anna Zaoui and Isabelle Dubern-Mallevays, co-founders of The Invisible Collection, commented: “We are so drawn to the timeless quality of Laura’s pieces and her masterful skill for pairing the most unexpected colour palettes, breathing new life into classic shapes. It is a total pleasure to present a selection of her designs exclusively through The Invisible Collection."
Gonzalez added: “Launching and pursuing my furniture line to the wider public is a big step in terms of creativity and design. Given The Invisible Collection’s high standards criteria and most importantly online know-how, it is an honour for me to be appearing among the website’s selection of designers. The traditional distribution channels in the design industry are being completely revisited, and I’m sure that with The Invisible Collection, we at Laura Gonzalez will be able to keep moving forward in the digital field.”
www.theinvisiblecollection.com
Prandina launches new collection Fez
(Italy) - Prandina Lighting Stories has released Fez, a new decorative lighting collection to its catalogue.
Designed by Marco Alessi, from Bassano del Grappa, graduate of the IUAV in Venice and an architect by profession, Fez is a collection with simple and sinuous lines that at the same time endowed with a strong identity and elegance. It arises from the relationship between two cylinders, one transparent, bright and rigid, the other solid, reflective and shaped to accommodate and distribute the light. Thus, the two apparently opposed cylinders meet to unite.
Fez is offered in different materials and surface finishes that leave free space for the interpretation of the interiors and is available as a pendant version, a table version and a floor version.
Each version is available in two different sizes (22.5cm or 30cm diffuser diameter) and with four standard finishes (matte white, glossy black, matte sand and copper) and custom colours are possible on request. The floor model is also available with a height of 140cm or 170cm. The table model has a black fabric cable as standard. The use of an E27 LED bulb is recommended.
ASID releases Interior Design Resiliency report
(USA) - The American Society of Interior Designers looks to the future of design, industry and profession in new resiliency report.
In partnership with Design Leaders Cosentino, Benjamin Moore and Emerald, research demonstrates the effects of COVID-19 on design professionals and spaces.
As all industries tackle the ongoing effects of COVID-19, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has sought to understand the resiliency of the design industry and profession through times of uncertainty. The 2020 ASID Interior Design Resiliency Report has released the results from its first phase, conducted during the summer of 2020 to further investigate interior design resilience by examining the impact of the pandemic, the response from the interior design community and the changes necessary in design to move forward.
“In their day-to-day work, design professionals are creative problem-solvers who constantly strive to provide a positive, impactful experience,” explains ASID Director, Research and Knowledge Management Susan Chung, Ph.D. “We hope that in addition to helping us understand the changes and challenges that face the industry, this Resiliency Report demonstrates the value of design and contributions design professionals can make to help lead us into a safer and healthier world.”
Prior to this study, ASID had been tracking the impact of COVID-19 on the interior design community through pulse surveys, finding signs of resilience among the industry and profession. The Resiliency Report takes a deeper dive by examining attributes of interior design professionals, their experiences during the pandemic and expected changes in the design of the built environment. The study not only identifies issues interior design businesses and professionals have faced during this major disruption, but also tracks changes implemented in the industry, tests the viability of industry-wide changes and showcases the value of design. The study will be conducted in multiple phases, with this being the first, to better understand long-term resilience.
When surveying designers and other industry respondents, the study focused on areas including impact, response, changes in design and ways to build health and exercise resilience in the profession.
The full report can be read here: www.asid.org/resources/covid-19/resiliency-report
