London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 31, 2025

These Elegant New Lighting Collections Double as Works of Art

These Elegant New Lighting Collections Double as Works of Art

These independent designer names-to-know take ‘lit’ to a whole new level.

There must something in the water—or, in this case, the light waves—for these four young design studios. Their spring and summer lighting introductions make the most of evolved material languages to deliver fixtures that are at once comforting and subtly defiant of expectations. From the delicate yet thoughtfully adaptable chain-link motifs of Trueing’s latest, to Blue Green Works’ idiosyncratic beach-comber Brutalism, paying attention to these four names right now is undoubtedly a bright idea.

Light sculptures by the California-based artist Bennet Schlesinger.


Bennet Schlesinger


California-based designer Bennet Schlesinger’s emotive bamboo, paper, and ceramic lamps have garnered a cult following among the creative class: He counts ceramist Simone Bodmer Turner, Green River Project designers Ben Bloomstein and Aaron Aujla, and the fashion designer Emily Bode as supporters. It’s easy to see why. His sculptures radiate light and warmth through a fabrication process that involves layering sheets of translucent paper over a woven bamboo armature. Schlesinger has said the process is akin to throwing clay, another medium in which he works fluently.

The ceramic base of one of Schlesinger’s light sculptures.

Each shade is hand-formed from layers of paper pulled taut over a woven bamboo frame, sealed with archival glue.


Currently represented by L.A. gallery Stanley’s, Schlesinger has shown around the country in group and solo shows at the now-closed-but-well-remembered New York galleries Signal in Brooklyn and Karma’s Amagansett outpost, as well as Big Medium in Austin, Texas, leaving him poised to continue working in the aesthetic tradition of his cited artistic forebears: Cy Twombly, Suzan Frecon, and Peter Voulkos. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

The Serie Double “Matinee” Pendant in dappled brass.


Trueing


Cofounders Josh Metersky and Aiden Bowman’s five-year-old lighting studio Trueing expanded its material repertoire this summer with the release of Serie, a new collection of chandeliers and pendants offered in five metal finishes. Metersky, formerly an engineer and product manager for the New York–based lighting designer Bec Brittain, and Bowman, a Bjarke Ingles Group alumnus, channel the traditions of Italian jewelers into fixtures comprised of substantial brass links with satisfyingly precise beveled edges.

The Cerine collection has expanded to include sandblasted chain links in multiple colorways.


The collection name is Italian for “series,” an on-the-nose nod to the format of the chain fixture, as much as the studio’s progression of ideas from glass to metal, forsaking the transparent for the opaque. Not that they have anything to hide: They also introduced their Cerine light fixtures in sandblasted glass this season, a new finish that, per Bowman, “is just really tasty-looking.”

The large and small versions of Slash Objects’ Coexist table lamp.


Slash Objects


Designer Arielle Assouline-Lichten, founder of the five-year-old Brooklyn-based studio Slash Objects, released her first lighting collection this spring, as part of her Coexist series. Each lamp is customizable and made entirely of recycled materials: a hand-hewn base crafted from marble remnants, a lampshade available in both a woven fabric made of 100 percent–recycled PET bottles, and a special edition bouclé.

The collection’s fabric lampshades are made of 100% recycled PET bottles.

The bouclé edition lampshade provides a textural contrast with the marble remnant base.


The unfussy geometry of the base flatters both lampshade options, expanding on the contrasts and textures that define the studio’s furniture-making. It’s an elegant category bow from the studio, which is working next to bring the “exploded chandelier” from Assouline-Lichten’s time on the most recent season of HBO Max’s Ellen’s Next Great Designer to market as a multipiece collection.

The Palm Pendant is part of the first collection from Blue Green Works, made of hand-rolled, kiln-slumped glass and precision-machined steel or brass elements.


Blue Green Works


New York–based studio Blue Green Works debuted its first collection this spring, designed and engineered entirely in lockdown. The resulting pieces were conceptualized around ideas of sanctuary through textures and materials that evoke sites of escape and leisure. The Fiber series, comprised of a sconce and pendant fixture, is a nautically tinged experiment in elemental raw fiberglass, while the Palm series is made from hand-rolled, kiln-slumped glass and precision-machined metal elements configured as pendants, a sconce and a floor lamp.

Blue Green Works’s Fiber Sconce.

Blue Green Works’s Fiber Pendant.


Creative director Peter B Staples, formerly of Apparatus Studio, mined his years spent combing the beaches of Fire Island to inform the collection’s measured approach to themes of temporality and transparency—from the dulled glow of a sunset hitting your eyes closed to the conviviality of a party that goes into the wee hours of the morning. The entire collection is currently available direct online and at The Future Perfect.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×