A LOOK AT LIGHTING

NEW LIGHTING

One of our current projects has forced us to search out some spectacular and unusual lighting. It's a more challenging task than you'd think. Lighting can span an enormous gap when you start playing the high-low game. There were many beautiful pieces, like this piece by Donghia, that made our jaws drop and then drop again when we asked for the price. So I thought I'd show some of the most interesting pieces we found and let you guess about their high or low value.

I loved the color and playfulness of this glass and metal chandelier. It comes from the Avram Rusu Studio. It's the type of fixture that needs a specific home but it I'd love to design a room around this piece. Anyone out there with a mid-century home that needs some sprucing up, I think I've found a chandelier to inspire you.

The Dione Chandelier by Elk Lighting is a favorite transitional piece of mine. The proportions are right on and it has just the right amount of drama. It comes in several finishes and the shade is sold separately. I love the polished nickel and the price for shade and fixture is under $600. It's a great focal point for a transitionally inspired room with enough drama to make it appear much more expensive than its price tag .

These LED fixtures represent a high-low look at the mini light category. Mooi lighting has come out with these incredible globes. They represent the low end where low can hover around the $2000 to $6000 range.

At Domus Design Collection we found these unbelievably beautiful cubes of light dripping with crystal icicles that reflected and intensified the lighting effect. Designed by Jan Pauwels for Universe these lights hit the higher end of this lighting category soaring into the over $20,000 category. All I can say is it's a lot of fun having the opportunity to look at lighting that falls in this category knowing that you're not just window shopping. I'm pushing for two.

This lighting fixture by Ochre is one of my favorites. It's a springtime rain shower of hand-forged brass fittings with magical glass globes. The designers at Ochre will configure the drops in almost any combination you can think of.

If you want a wall of light, they can do that. If you want a multi-leveled circular tornado of light or a single droplet, they can do it. Unfortunately, it would take a very special client to find a home for one of these fixtures; their price resides in the clouds wherefore they come.

On the low end of the financial ladder are these sky lanterns. Who cannot be moved by a night sky lit by a sea of floating lanterns? Even if the light lasts for only a few minutes of fleeting beauty your heart can't help but melt a little at the sight of hundreds of floating fire balloons slowly rising to the heavens.

Another way of lighting a space without having to take out a loan is with these string lights by Ballard Design. A fifty-foot string costs just under a hundred dollars. String them overhead and it's like taking a trip to an outdoor trattoria in a Tuscan hill town. Screw in the amber glowing bulbs and bring out the Brunello de Montelcino.

I couldn't do a post on lighting without including our very special friends Paul and Marcia at Zia-Priven. Their lamps, chandeliers and sconces are among the most beautiful in the industry. They are also one of the few designers whose work doesn't get pigeonholed into a stylistic category. Their work is at times is transitional and at other times contemporary. Even the traditional fits into their wheelhouse. One of the most novel and show-stopping pieces is their Troy chandelier made out of ping-pong balls. It's tradition with a huge sense of humor.

The fixture we finally settled on is a handmade fixture by Lou Blass. Lou called this his Angular Momentum piece. It's made from textured steel welded together in a chaotic mess of arms and bulbs. Our piece measured seven feet long by three feet wide and three feet high. Using silver bottomed lamps the fixture was a perfect fit for our client's needs.






THE GALLERY

Bathesda Fountain, 2004
Lynn Saville, photographe
Represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery