First there was the Kelly, suspension lights with imposing aluminium domes, a central diffuser surrounded by delicate, sculpted, twisting, metallic branches. Laser-cut and powder-coated, they are 50 cm or 80 cm across, huge diameters for sizeable, distinguished rooms, with great appeal to young couples wanting something special in their new home, says lighting consultant Glen Turnbull.
This Studio Italia Design light reflects the company’s pedigree, a 50-year-old family-run Venetian manufacturer, with Milanese connections, says John Attewell, director of Australian distributor Special Lights. The company also designs most of its lights and often, but not always, names the lights after family members.
Already a top seller, the Kelly was followed by the Grace family of suspension, surface-mounted (cylinder and square) table and floor lamps. Released in Australia for Sydney InDesign in August 2013, they are now back in stock and on display in the Special Lights Surry Hills showroom.
(left) Kelly TA1. Spherical, laser cut white metal table lamp with milky white diffuser. Image: Special Lights.
The Kelly provides the lamp’s structure around which the resin, elastic fabric stretches, diffusing and softening the light flow.
The cocooning material was developed more than 50 years ago by the German Friedel Wauer who, as the publicity material says, “discovered a mechanical way to cover a steel grid by imitating the self-wrapping of a silk worm, diffusing light while revealing a striking geometry”. Its cloud-like appearance has also been likened to a flying disc under a ceiling or a lighting column or buds opening out or tree roots.
(Left) Grace TA1: White metal laser cut frame with resin diffuser. The look is very organic and natural. Available in cylinder version.
With its play on the imagination, it is not too far-fetched to conjecture that the Grace, following on so closely to the Kelly, is paying homage to the elegant Grace Kelly who, in her own way, lit up the life of many an adoring fan.
