Of Birds & Balloons – 7 Coolest Lights and Lamp of the Season

Whether you want to celebrate nature or human ingenuity, you’ll love these creative light fixtures! Discover pendant lights resembling water drops, table lamps evoking macaws, and outdoor fixtures reminiscent of reed stands. Or delight in ceiling and floor lamps suspended perfectly in dynamic tension, blurring the boundary between art and science. Enjoy!

Pendant light fixture shape of water drop
Liquid light.

The Drop Lamp by venerable Murano lighting manufacturer Andromeda resembles the elongated shape of a drop of falling water frozen in time. Each handcrafted artisanal suspension lamp is unique. Its clear glass bulb sports a random blue splash for color and is lit by a solitary LED lamp cable fed from the outside. The pendant light fixture can be height adjusted and weighs in at a hefty 9 kg (19.8 lbs) with a minimum length of 110 cm (43.3”).  

Polycarbonate table lamp in shape of a bird
Flight of Fancy.

Designed by Umut Yamac, the playful Perch Table Lamp is a perfect fit for Mooi, which already touts a contemporary zoomorphic lighting collection. The origami bird-shaped fixture rests on a simple steel and aluminum base, with its head and tail stylishly fitted out in brass. The 5W, 90 lumen LED fixture features a touch sensitive dimmer and measures 8.7” W x 9.8” D x 24.2” H.   

Suspended light fixture inspired by dew drops on a blade of grass
Lighting Bubbles.

Inspired by the ephemeral look of dew drops on blades of grass, Slovakian designer Boris Klimek distills nature’s essence into a symphony of glass and leather. The Dew Drops suspension lamp by Bomma showcases 7 iridescent glass bubbles delicately hung from a tapered hand-stitched strap. For edgier looks, install the lighting in a group and modify spacing between the ceiling fixtures’ anchor points to vary their drop heights. The possibilities are endless!  

The band is available in both vegan and black leather, and the suspension fixture comes in 2 spans: 1800 to 2400 mm (70.9 to 94.5”) Min-Max, or 1925 to 2525 mm (75.8 to 99.4”) Min-Max.  

Outdoor lighting resembling reeds
Blowing in the Wind.

The theme of integrating nature into our daily living extends to the great outdoors. The Reeds Outdoor LED Floor Lamp designed by German product designer Klaus Begasse for Artemide is a perfect foil for trees and water features alike. Standing at 59″ h, the transparent rigid synthetic resin rods resemble stylized reeds, and are available in 7-stalk single (8.62″ w x 8.82″ d) or triple (16.65″ w x 16.46″ d) clusters. The 9 W, 3000°K LED fixtures cast a soft warm glow over the lush landscaping and come with an Anthracite Grey base, non-dimmable integrated driver and 4’-11” cable.   

Ceiling fixture consisting of a linear and circular element
Light in Motion.

Call it a twofer – this minimalist suspension fixture wears two hats: it illuminates and dances. It’s the graceful result of Paris-based POOL studio’s experiments with the notion of balance and counterbalance in lighting. Give a whisper of wind, and the airy luminaire turns into a kinetic sculpture. Aptly called Cercle & Trait, the ceiling light is comprised of just 2 basic geometric elements: the circle and line. The circle is perpendicular to the linear lighting, marking its fulcrum’s location while the whole assembly is held in perfect tension by the ceiling cable threading through the ring.  

The pendant, hand made in France, is of solid brass with choice of satin brass, satin graphite, satin nickel, or satin copper finishes. Available in 2 sizes, 69.1″ L x 23.6″ Dia and 48.4” L x 18.1” Dia, they come with a 1 meter (39.4”) black textile cable for attachment to the canopy. While both lamps are 2700° K and dimmable, the former fixture is 19W, 1400 lumens and UL rated for damp locations, while the latter is 12W, 930 lumens and applicable only in dry locations.  

Floor lamp with a cantilevered lamp shade
Checks and Balances.

Balance by artist and designer Todd St. John is an innovative solution to ensure a perfectly placed lampshade for the tall floor lamp. The cantilevered shade’s position can be adjusted by sliding the pivot rod along the floor to provide stable illumination where needed. Measuring 25” w x 63” d x 74” h, the fixture is of solid hand rubbed walnut and brass with an anodized aluminum shade. 

Wall sconces of mouth blown glass resembling balloons
Up, Up and Away.

Ruben Thier and Iris van Daalen, founders of the Dutch Studio Thier & Van Daalen, riffs on our childhood love of balloons while pushing the envelope with the art of blown glass. Their latest wall lamp, Bulla, is deceptively simple in appearance, but technically challenging to fabricate and install. Eschewing the traditional rounded form, the glass orb is flattened on the back, creating an illusion of a balloon emerging from the wall. To meet functional needs, the team developed a flexible and removable lighting element to fit the fixture’s small bottom opening, as well as a discreet anchor to hang the light. These commonalties aside, each of the mouth-blown lamp’s wall thickness, transparency, color, shape as well as size will vary, and fitting the LED loop inside the glass adds another layer of visual complexity to the sconce. 

The 6 kg (13.2 lb) luminaire is approximately 35 x 28 x 18 cm (13.8 x 11 x 7.1″) and comes in Opal Lilac, Opal Light Blue, Yellow, Orange and Pink, with choice of matt black or white 3D printed light holder. The dimmable 10W, 1050 lumen LED lamp is 2700°K. 

 

 

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