an unknown lamp
vs
a certain desire to transcend(ed) material

I didn’t want to work with the truth in materials, except in a limited way...

I no longer contain the information, the work does.













I don’t like material as such, whether it’s oil paint or anything else, because it leads you into a trap. The trap is that materials, in themselves, present a certain truth which one has to work with. I didn’t want to work with the truth in materials, except in a limited way. The paper curls because it comes on a roll, and I don’t mind that. It can have that much license but not too much more, because I'm interested in the ways in which I can experience myself, and my work is really about making myself.

Yet it isn’t possible for me to work without materials. There are some artists whose work I admire who don't use materials as such, but that’s not the way I think. Among the various levels of thought, the visual is paramount. So, when it came to dealing with materials, I chose paper because it has no weight and isn't a bother to store: all practical reasons. Also, I didn't want to manufacture antiques and I like its impermanence.

Materials present situations which are unexpected, and I enjoy that. It is possible to think things out before hand and know the answers, but the materials will then present unknown visual systems that could not have been anticipated. It is a kind of dialectic: I have an idea and the material; then I put them together, and it is always dreadful—invariably it’s just dreadful. There is a separation between the idea, the materials, and me. The work is there, so it’s a matter of understanding all aspects more clearly. How to bring it together? It is taken down and put up several times. When near completion, it’s as though the work and I exchange places; I no longer contain the information, the work does. Then there is a process of small adjustments, to make the ideas and the process more cogent.






Dorothea Rockburne, an interview from ARTFORUM 1972.

image is unknown image taken from EBAY. color bleached out. faded. sold to unknown purchaser. it's the life of a lamp, man.









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YHBHS interview
with Bec Brittain, designer, NY

"Right now is such a curious time for lighting technology, there are so many concerns: energy efficiency, quality of light, longevity of design, and many times they are in conflict."

SHY lamp, now at MATTER in New York....

How did you become interested in LED? "The quality of light", and why your attraction to working in this source?

The interest was actually first with fluorescent light; I became really taken by the idea that we were surrounded by these beautiful white lines, yet they had been relegated to the most banal and industrial applications. I wanted to break them out of that role. After much research, and an initial fluorescent prototype, their technical limitations made themselves quite clear; the LEDs are so nice to work with by comparison – the wiring isn't so complicated.

Right now is such a curious time for lighting technology, there are so many concerns: energy efficiency, quality of light, longevity of design, and many times they are in conflict. My first priority is to try to design things that can be passed on to grandchildren, which requires trying to design for future change. My current solution is to always make sure you can change the light bulb; I hope that this allows not only for burnt-out bulbs to be replaced, but also outdated light bulbs to be updated. A lot of LED lights don't allow for it, and I think in 20 years we're going to have a bunch of light fixtures in the trash. As for light quality, I think it's going to be really interesting how things move forward. LED technology is improving daily in terms of its quality of light. But I also think there's a real possibility of our eyes and our tastes adapting to new kinds of light.

I wonder to myself if we're all going to begin to like different colors because of how they appear under new light....
















Why do you call it the shy light? My grandmother is a complete inspiration – she has always had a great eye, and continues to do so past 90. She helped brainstorm about the piece, so I thought it only right to give it her initials, SHY, for Sarah Hitchcock Yerkes.


How did the idea for the LED lamps come about? Can you talk about your process, how you are able to conceptualize, all the way to production?

The SHY light was a nice confluence of the long tubular bulbs lending themselves to make these faceted forms which had been stirring around in my head for a while. For any design there are any number of tools I use, and I just try to find the quickest one for the task at hand. I made a ton of sketch models, using tubes and wire and plasticine, to test the overall shape. The first prototype was made with as many ready-made parts as possible, machining just one custom piece. I have continued to improve it in iterations, refining and making new hardware bit by bit. I suppose I'm a bit impatient and need to see the thing in front of me as soon as I can; I certainly prefer improving iterations of something to trying to get it perfect in the computer before doing anything. You can learn so much in the in-between steps.


Can you talk about your work's connection to Lindsey Adelman's work? How has she influenced your work? What has it been like working with her?

It's so hard to say how mine and Lindsey's work are connected; I'm so close to both things, I'm not sure I have the best perspective on the final products and their relationship. What is much clearer to me is the process. When I began working with Lindsey I was trying to decide where to put my focus; I have always been connected to the making of things, but I just hadn't found the right fit in terms of how to try and make a living at it.

detail shots of SHY....

The two most important things I learned from Lindsey are:

1. You can be a product designer and not make mass-produced items. Instead you make relatively few pieces, mostly by hand, and they will be appreciated by the client.

2. Relax about something being perfect the first time out.

She continues to change and improve her pieces as certain issues pop up. There's a nice balance between making it the best you can at the time and understanding that you can always make it better. My description of how I made the SHY light in iterations is definitely influenced by this attitude.



You were the Lead Designer at architecture firm WORK AC, and then shifted focus to design luxury door hardware for manufacturer H. Theophile. Currently, you are Design Director at Lindsey Adelman Studio while also building your own practice in product design.

Why have you shifted from architecture to product design? Do you see this happening with more and more architects? Do you still have a desire to design buildings?

I began studying product design at Parson's in undergrad, and it was ultimately completely unsatisfying. At the time there was such a focus on mass production and saving resources in the production of the piece (flat-packing to save warehouse space, etc.), but there was no focus placed on the idea that something that will last 150 years will be more environmentally and economically sound than the 20 throw-away tables that you could have instead. I felt very outside what I understood to be the product design world. I left that program, and received a philosophy degree before getting the architecture degree; I used both of those degrees to try to solve this issue I had of wanting to make things but not feeling right about putting more stuff into the world. I tried a bit of architecture, a little furniture design, and some hardware. I think it was partly growing up and having more experience, as well as seeing some other product design practices that I admired, which threw me back into what I had wanted to do when I was 18. I also discovered I really like metal.



3 things we might never guess about you?

Don't we all need a bit of mystery?


You speak of a "as well as a more gradual appreciation of a larger idea. What larger ideas is your work moving towards?

The larger idea is specific to each piece. In the case of SHY, my interest in crystalline structures is really at the heart of it. The growth of crystals in entirely compelling to me – growth in a non-living thing is absolutely amazing! Moreover, it's fascinating the way each mineral has its specific growth structure which is consistent, yet depending on environmental variables each specimen is unique. SHY is constructed similarly, in that the hardware sets certain structural rules, yet it can be put together in a number of different ways.



Also, in June Bec Brittain will have a piece at TenOverSix on Melrose in addition to Matter in New York. Los Angeles will get a chance to check her work out in person! Cant' wait......








----------------



Bec Brittain was born in Washington, DC in 1980, Bec Brittain studied industrial design at Parsons, earned a BA in philosophy from New York University, followed by an architecture degree from The Architectural Association in London.

Brittain's work experience has been similarly varied as her education. She was Lead Designer at architecture firm WORK AC then shifted focus to design luxury door hardware for manufacturer H. Theophile. Currently, she is Design Director at Lindsey Adelman Studio while also building her own practice in product design.











thank you Bec Brittain!.......

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YHBHS interview with David Taylor

.....
"Working as I have, for the last 12 years as a full-time independent designer-maker, my design philosophy has been distilled down to "if it feels good do it", The longer I have worked in the design/crafts arena the more I have come to realize the making myself happy is the most important goal of my work..."

just a few of David Taylor' lamps......

"My thoughts always seem to lie a step ahead what I am trying to do."

------------------

What is your draw/attraction to designing lamps?

It's a fairly simple concept, anything with a light source in it can be considered to be a lamp. I'm a craftsman and as such the functionality in my work is not a priority, there are other more important ingredients to be considered. By making pieces by hand I am released from the constrains of industry and have an enormous freedom. I work with lots of projects simultaneously and they all tend to hook into one another as ideas emerge and are developed. The same details can be tried in various projects until a home is found and it's in the lamps they usually tend to end up. I don't make technical lighting that demands a level of function although I have a friend who is a lighting professor who can run my stuff through his computer if I need technical data but it's usually just quicker making a new prototype.

GUBBÄNGEN 2010, go here to see more images.

Your lighting installations are sculptural works onto themselves... GUBBÄNGEN 2010 , the project, what is the concept behind this work?

The materials, and the length of time the project took to complete? Gubbängen was a commission. 3 entries were to be given there own characteristic lighting installation. The entrance area to these three buildings is neither outdoors or private but a strange territory somewhere in between. I worked with themes that were more connected to the public / private spaces and semi indoor areas found in gardens. The lighting system itself is controlled by movement detectors and the lamps power up from 20% to max over a 10 sec period when activated, they are lit as long as there is activity in the area and then dim back down to 20% over a minute. The 3 entrances are beside each other at street level, so this power up/down control creates a slow pulsating effect and when inactive gives a comfortable security lighting on the street outside.

Made in brass with a hacked IKEA metal shade......

You are a trained silversmith... Can you talk about the world of silversmithing?

I can talk about the world of silversmithing for ever. Silver is the most beautiful material to work with from a making point of view, unfortunately it's expensive, and making silver objects is also very time consuming which means that any well made piece is going to be expensive and this restricts the market making it very difficult to earn a living making silver holloware. To compensate for this I design and make other stuff for a wider public, cutlery and commercial lighting that are more volume products in order to generate some income. This allows me continue doing the work that I get the biggest kick out of, which is producing silverware for my own enjoyment and a very small audience.




Your design philosophy? The importance of humor in your work?

It's like generating a critical mass through experiment, inching toward the tipping point. Working as I have, for the last 12 years as a full-time independent designer-maker, my design philosophy has been distilled down to "if it feels good do it", The longer I have worked in the design/crafts arena the more I have come to realize the making myself happy is the most important goal of my work. Firstly because it helps me maintained my enthusiasm for what I do and also the more I get out of producing and making the work the better it becomes. It sounds kind of weird but I'm still getting better at making the work of David Taylor. Unfortunately selling is still the bottom line and I have a large collection of my own work, happily the bulk of this collection was done in my first years out of school when I still listened to my peers and tried to find a place among them.

above: point pendant lamp.....
below image: PVC sewage pipe

\\



Favorite materials to work with at the moment?

Metal is always present when I make my work, I really enjoy turning raw material into an object loaded with meaning or value, my favorite material is the one that is most appropriate. The material that lends itself best to helping me realise the idea. The "Point" pendant lamps are made of paper, rope and 200mm PVC sewage pipe. I never thought I would have a relationship to sewage pipe but when I discovered it was exactly what I needed to complete the lamps I have to admit, the colour it's weight, and being so easily workable, it did start to look kinda sexy.

When I see your work I think 80's nostalgia color palette, but then these crazy yellows fade in.. Any artists that inspire you?

Gunilla Klingberg, Tomás Saracenos, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Jacob Dahlgren, Jakob Robertsson to name only a few and all working with subject matter that relates to here and now. Stockholm has some great galleries and I visit many of them often. I usually take my 2 year old with me as it really adds to the experience and also he loves galleries.



Plans for your work in the future?

Next stop is Milan which is a first for me, I've never really seen the furniture fair as my forum, but as the focus of mainstream design flirts with ethos of the crafts I think it's an exciting time to go there and show some work. I'm sure I'll be full of reactionary zeal when I get back! I want to move up in format and explore what this can mean in terms of semi-functional crafts. This means a bigger workshop which means more money so I'm going to have to work harder at getting some commercial stuff to market. I also part of a group MADE BY: we are active in the crafts field and have some really cool projects we really need to realize soon! I also have a solo exhibition coming up where I want to do some work in glass...we will see what happens and I'll be in Korea in September with an exhibition. As one thing leads to another I just join the dots and the pattern that emerges is what drives my work forward. I can't really be more specific other than it's probably going to get bigger and more expressive.



What's the design scene like in Stockholm?

Other designers in Stockholm that are exciting you at the moment? The design scene in Stockholm is robust and oozing with confidence, there is a lot going on, but you have to remember that Stockholm is a pretty small town. Only about a million. Having said that there is a high level of awareness here and plenty of support. Most of the designers I like the best are craftsmen like myself but who produce work with depth and sensitivity. Check out Mia E Görensson.....









go to David Taylor's site here...
all images courtesy of David Taylor and his studio, and his website. thanks david!









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supermoons become us.
"I'd say it's worth a look."












You said I'm arresting
You said I had heat
I really thought that we would go further
The second time we'd meet- ellie goulding.


Sconces by R E W I R E, LOS ANGELES. beverly blvd


"On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty rose in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years. The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."

where will we be when it returns!

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a slow
long, beautiful
attention to details.



























a slow
long, beautiful
attention to details.

images:

1. Roy Arden, trickle down 2010, sculpture

2 Elise Gabriel, at Galerie Gosserez, is a young French designer. Presenting a series of furniture (table, chair and lights) whose main theme is researching Zelfo, a new material composed of cellulose* whose great propensity to reduce, to model itself on curvilinear shapes and to embrace the material, allows it to fit tightly round and to assemble together the elements on which it dries. The extremely radical formatting therefore brings to the forefront all of the material’s mechanical, plastic and symbolic power. (text taken from Galerie Gosserez site!)





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What is Zelfo?

Developed in Austria ten years ago, Zelfo is an innovative and patented material which presents the market with a unique combination of ecological, aesthetic and mechanical properties. It is composed of 100% cellulose fibres, rapidly renewable plant extracts (hemp, miscanthus, etc.) and/or cellulose rich waste, like paper or fabric. Zelfo is therefore 100% biodegradable. On leaving the refining factories, the cellulose fibres are submerged in water: they are filtered; ground; then pressed and dried. Once dried, any finish is possible: Zelfo may be shaped into many forms, whilst still retaining its high density (from 0.5 to 1.5g/cm3) and great resistance, as well as it qualities of delicacy, satin-finish and opalescence.







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L A M P S
Jacques Le Chevallier
& René Koechlin

"intended for mass production"

Jacques Le Chevallier, a stained glass artist, and René Koechlin, a civil engineer (and brother of Maurice Koechlin, designer of the Eiffel Tower), collaborated on a small number of modernist lamps at the end of the 1920s. Their designs, industrial in appearance, boasted strong angles, moveable flaps and exposed screws, and incorporated affordable materials like aluminum and Ebonite, a composite used in the production of early bowling balls.


These lamps, like the present lot, resembled machines not only in appearance but also in function: the bulb can be dimmed or exposed by moving various panels. Although the lamps were intended for mass production, few examples of the pair’s designs remain on the market.







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the dense fog
of the california coast
in the fall is intoxicating.
(hyper sun in shy November)

aka "the dense decorator"

the dense fog
of the california coast
in the fall is intoxicating.
(hyper sun in shy November)

aka "the dense decorator"



1. Dagobert Peche, lamp, circa1915
2. Mari Eastman, Moonscape with Fo-Dog 2010 Flashe, oilstick, ink, White-out, spray-paint, acrylic, glitter on canvas with painted canvas fringe, via Cherry Martin
3. Lecia Dole-Recio, new work at Richard Telles now!





Dagobert Peche was born 1887 in St.Michael, Salzburg. After studying Architecture in Vienna at Ohmann Peche turned to interior design, or one can call it in
a better way to "mise en scéne" of entire rooms.

The heritage of secessionist surface decoration and the example of artists from the Viennese School of Applied Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule) are clearly visible. 1911 Peche got acquainted with Josef Hoffmann, he worked for the firms of Johann Backhausen, Philipp Haas, Wiener Keramik, Viennese porcellain manufacture, Josef Böck. Peches concepts present the glaring opposite to the reduced forms of Hoffmann.


With his "female decoration of rooms" Peche creates his specific way of interior design that can be described as "public intimacy".









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lamps for the fortress.
aka
there will always be safety in the light, friends.















fortress
2. a well -lit place or source of refuge or support for the family, friends, and lovers.














lamps for the fortress.
aka
there will always be safety in the light, friends.


1. Henning Koppel, oil lamp, demark 1962, brass frosted glass..
2. Hans-Agne Jakobsson, 1960, Sweden, chandeliers.







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