Five Lamp Designers
I made a compilation of 5 brilliant lamp designers who are currently influential and active in the design world. They have all quite the legacy behind them, but perhaps a few of the names will be new to you. The top image is of the Double Angle lamp by Studio Michael Anastassiades. You will find more on him below, he is one of my favourites.
1. Lambert et Fils
Dot Line Floor lamp by Lampert et Fils. Photo © Lambert et Fils
This Montreal based design house caught my eye ages ago on Instagram. Founded by Samuel Lambert in 2010, his studio soon grew into a full in-house design team that shared his love for minimalist design with abstracted references to the mid-century Modern aesthetic. I like to think of Lambert’s lights as a boiled down retake of the 1960s atomic Bauhaus bulb chandeliers.
If you were in Milan this year you might have seen their stand. There’s a sort of playful element to their lights as well, visible even in the naming of their lamps, such as Dot Line Floor. Check out their Instagram and website to stay in tune with their latest projects.
Customized lamp for client by Lambert et Fils. Photo © Arseni Khamzin
2. Lindsey Adelman
The Branching Bubble Chandalier version 09 09. Photo © The Future Perfect for Lindsey Adelman
Lindsey Adelman‘s lamps are beyond beautiful. Working since 2006, the kickoff to fame for her own studio was seen with the launch of The Branching Bubble. You might have seen versions of this one around, 09 09 pictured above is one of many alternations which have evolved over the years.
Her studio also creates furniture, wallpapers and tiles to name a few. Her studio has also ventured into other creative fields, one from two years ago was a rather “artistic” music video featuring very bendy dancers climbing her light designs to some very angsty music…Nonetheless, the lamps remain beautiful. On the Australian blog Yellowtrace you can also see a few of Adelman’s designs shown in setting, to give you an idea of how they look in real life.
3. Resident
Circus Pendants from Resident. Photo © Dezeen for Resident
Resident’s design studio originates from New Zealand. Their latest Salone appearance featured a new favourite of mine, the Circus lamp made of a series of golden loops bound together like a chain or a gymnast’s rings. This image above is taken from their feature in Dezeen, which I found a fun, short read. They explain how each ring is connected and share electricity through LED lights, and that each fixture can be rebuilt to different lengths to suit either a home or a larger commercial space.
I like the customisable, playful element to the design itself, as opposed to most lighting fixtures where one can only influence the direction of the light. The company describes itself as “…architects of objects [who] design products that help you to host, work, share, recharge, relax and collapse”. Yes, I’d love to collapse under one of those golden ringed lights!
4. Dechem for Bomma
Bomma‘s identity was shaped from incorporating age old Czech glass blowing traditions with robotic technology from Bohemia Machine. As we are used to hearing about robotics being incorporated into various fields, Bomma’s story might not sound so surprising to you, I’m not sure. However, Czech culture has a long history of glass making by hand. The area of Svetla, Bomma’s basecamp, also houses other manufacturing companies such as Crystalite Bohemia. They’ve had a production plant there since 1794. In 1990s when Bohemia Machine’s developed their glass cutter machine, it was a pioneering addition to a field based mainly on “the handmade”.
Then more than a decade later, Jiří Trtík, now director of the production plant, founded Bomma. He employed Svetla’s local craftmanship. Together they have been building a new age manufactory that works to bring modern design into the craft of hand-blown glass, whilst incorporating Bohemia Machine into its production.
Recently, the company has been seen actively in the media for it’s collaborative design projects. Last year, Bomma launched one with six young Czech designers. The collection was showcased and photographed in Berlin at the Czech Embassy in September 2016, you can read more about it on Wallpaper.
One of my favourite from the collaborative series is “Phenomena” pictured below from the design duo Michaela Tomiskova and Jakub Jandourek of studio Dechem, founded in 2012. Their own work and collection is not only focused on lighting, but various other glass items too. Their lamp designs often feature sheer milky glass with oranges and turquoise colours. The colours are a recognisable trait in both their vases and lamps. You can see an overview of all their projects on their website.
Phenomena series from Dechem Studio for Bomma. Photo © Architonic for Dechem.
5. Michael Anastassiades
London based Michael Anastassiades‘ studio takes lighting to the level of art. His light designers’ studio have a similar quality to Montreal duo Lampert et fils. However, Anastassiades lights also have a more fine art dimension to them. In fact, his work has been part of several museum collections and exhibitions, such as the MOMA in New York and the V&A in London. Having been an active designer since 1994, he’s done collaborations with big market players such as FLOS, which you can check out here.
In the same Nowness series “In Residence” mentioned earlier, you can see a beautiful clip of Anastassiades, his home and studio. Inside a minimalist, carefully curated studio space overlooking Waterloo train station, he explains how the regular noise of the trains give him a sense of rhythm to the day. It sounded rather poetic the way he described it in the film, but I don’t know how he can work with trains rattling next to him.
He trained as a civil engineer, and the relationship between objects and their surrounding is central in his creative process. The film shows him talk through how central his home is for his design inspiration. The interplay between the rooms give him the right framework to design balanced objects fit for a specific space. Each of his designs come from a prototype developed there.
Find your new favourite lamp designers
Amy Frearson also covered most of these lamp designers in her Salone del Mobile 2017 review titled 10 of the best new lighting designs at Euroluce for Dezeen.
4. Bomma
xo