(Australia) – Lighting brand Rakumba teamed up with Studio Truly Truly to launch ceiling fixture, Vela.

In the second iteration of its hugely successful Typography family, Rakumba with Studio Truly Truly launches Vela. This stand-alone lighting collection is a poetic mix of iconic design references and celestial contemplations.

For Vela, designers Joel and Kate Booy of Studio Truly Truly have reimagined the most elemental of forms, the sphere. In reference to the Vela constellation, its spherically formed luminaires reinterpret the Typography rail system as the axis of an orbital space. Distinctive discs accent sculptural arrangements of spheres, creating forms and shadows reminiscent of eclipses.

Together these elements create a play on balance, evoking an Alexander Calder-esque sculpture in space, said Studio Truly Truly. “A visual dance happens with the addition of the discs parallel to the light but perpendicular to the rail,” they said. “Together with the illuminated  spheres, they can be seen to reveal the image of all the phases of the moon – from eclipse to waning crescent.”

Vela lights can be positioned anywhere along or around the axis. Combining multiple rails in vertical or horizontal orientations and varying the number of lights means the system can be formed into endless expressions; from simple pendants or wall arrangements to incredible chandeliers. 

Rakumba Managing Director, Michael Murray, said that while Rakumba had curated a suite of spectacular compositions as a starting point, “Vela offers designers the opportunity to create their own sculptural pieces with ease, each one being unique”.

Each Vela composition stands as an artistic piece. “What we love is that as you move around the forms, they look different from every angle. You can’t help but smile – and feel something – when you see an Alexander Calder mobile, and Vela is the same: it’s that emotional connection we always look for,” said Mr Murray.

The collection comes in a palette of black, golden, and colourways inspired by the hues of the Dutch De Stijl movement reinterpreted with a mid-century aesthetic.

Studio Truly Truly said Rakumba was the ideal partner to bring Vela to life. “Rakumba is highly professional in production and this, accompanied with a desire to push creativity and beauty, means together we can make interesting objects,” they said.

Rakumba’s product development team have taken many learnings from its ongoing partnership with Studio Truly Truly. “Studio Truly Truly are purposeful, rigorous designers, decisive and at the same time collaborative. The sphere is an archetypal light source – the most fundamental source of illumination, so minimal that it’s become universal. Yet Vela jumps out as completely recognisable,” said Rakumba Head Of Design, Dan Treacy.

“Studio Truly Truly has managed to ‘thread the eye of the needle’, paring back as far as possible without Vela being in any way generic. Every Vela combination you curate looks good and achieves something unique – whether that’s playful or serious. It’s outside of the expected,” Treacy said.

The Vela collection is available from December 2021 on a four-week lead time. 

rakumba.com.au