Well Hung
Flying high in the air with the greatest of ease or low over a table to accent your meal, a pendant illuminates the room like no other kind of fixture.
When it comes to interior lighting, we all owe Danish architect Poul Henningsen a huge debt. Having grown up in the glow of gas lamps, Henningsen tinkered for ten years in the early age of electricity before taming the bare bulb. His first PH Lamp—–unveiled at the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris—–was an instant sensation and unlike anything that had come before. Its three shades directed light downward while also casting a pleasant ambient glow.
Countless variations have followed, but Henningsen’s designs continue to best articulate the basic concept behind a pendant: the blending of focused and ambient light. Darrell Hawthorne, principal of San Francisco–based design collaborative Architecture and Light, agrees. “There’s a very simple formula to make a space feel good. You have to have two kinds of light: ambient, which fills up the area and gives it a general structure, and accent, which highlights particular objects and gives your eye a place to go.”
We opted for a diverse array of 14 hanging lights hailing from a broad range of points on the ambient-to-accent scale. Alvar Aalto’s Bilberry A338, the purple Mhy from Muuto, and Cecilie Manz’s Caravaggio are aces at accents, best placed over a work area or to illuminate art on a wall. On the middle of the scale we offer V by Arturo Alvarez and Seppo Koho’s Secto 4201, lamps whose slatted structures cast interesting shadows without forsaking a focused downward beam. Naturally, Henningsen’s PH Snowball also sits squarely in the center of the spectrum. Gracing the ambient side of the scale are Bertjan Pot’s Non-Random Light for Moooi and Achille Castiglioni’s Taraxacum ’88. Pumped up to full glow, Taraxacum ’88’s bulb-spotted, 20-sided polyhedron will illuminate even the darkest dungeon master’s dwelling.
Choosing the right pendant light is ultimately a question of both form and function. Or, as Poul Henningsen famously said, “It doesn’t cost money to light a room correctly, but it does require culture.”
-
Caravaggio Pendant
- Price: $275.00
There's something striking about this drawn steel pendant. The glossy, opaque shade casts light down, but shines on the cord above as well.
-
PH Snowball
- Designed by: Poul Henningsen
- Made by: Louis Poulsen
- Price: $2,244.00
Maestro-of-lighting Poul Henningsen designed the PH Snowball in 1924, and its glare-free radiance is just as clear today. The aluminum shades are placed at just the right angles to ensure even illumination.
-
V Pendant
- Designed by: Arturo Alvarez
- Price: $3,235.00
For those who are after more than just light, V will cast cool geometric shadows through its polycarbonate slats.
-
Le Soleil
- Made by: Foscarini
- Price: $1,551.00
Introduced in Milan last year but now available for purchase in the US, Vicente Garcia Jimenez's Le Soliel is a pendant that lights below from above and above from below. The polycarbonate tiers shine directly down, but also ambient illumination towards the ceiling.
-
Non-Random Light
- Designed by: Bertjan Pot
- Made by: Moooi
- Price: $623.00
While Moooi's Random light resembled a Jackson Pollack painting in orb form, the Non-Random—also by Dutch designer Bertjan Pot—looks a bit more like a finely wound skein of wool. The epoxy resin-soaked fiberglass pendant comes in both black and white.
-
Taraxacum '88 S
- Designed by: Achille Castiglioni
- Price: $4,984.00
Achille Castiglioni's Taraxacum '88 was named for the ethereal dandelion, and the 60 transparent bulbs that adorn the polished aluminum icosahdron are truly luminous when switched on. It's a showstopper, no doubt, not for the wallflowers (or energy-savers) out there.
-
Fluoro Shade
- Designed by: Tom Dixon
- Price: $465
Though it looks like Flouro's polycarbonate shade could illuminate a room on it's own, it is, indeed, fitted for a bulb. Tom Dixon is quite fond of the eye-catching color, and it can be found on handful of other items in his collection.
-
Neutra Suspension
- Designed by: Ferruccio Laviani
- Made by: Kartell
- Price: $1,075
With a 35.4 inch diameter, Kartell's Neutra is best suited to a room with some serious square footage. The polycarbonate frame is available in black or white.
-
Miconos Suspension
- Designed by: Ernesto Gismondi
- Made by: Artemide
- Price: $625
The slightly askew bulb laid bare gives Miconos its visual interest, casting light directly from the incandescent through the transparent glass shade.
-
Secto 4201
- Designed by: Seppo Koho
- Made by: Secto Design
- Price: $750
Finnish birch becomes slatted shade for Seppo Koho's Secto 4201 pendant. Like V from Arturo Alvarez, this will cast linear shadows and ambient light.
-
Pharos
- Designed by: Jermy Pyles
- Made by: Niche Modern
- Price: $440
Designer Jeremy Pyles appreciates the transparency of a blown-glass shade, which allows the filament bulb a chance to shine. Pharos emits a warm glow despite its cool, clear exterior.
-
Le Klint Pendant 161
- Designed by: Hvidt and Molgaard
- Made by: Le Klint
- Price: $427
Le Klint's classic sculptural pendants are offered in a variety of hand-folded shapes. Designed by architect Poul Christiansen in the late 1960s, the style holds up to date, and the PVC material is easy to clean.
-
Mhy
- Designed by: Norway Says
- Made by: Muuto
- Price: $285
The aluminum shade of Muuto's Mhy is hand made-and-painted. We were taken with the bold purple hue, but the fixture is also offered in yellow, green, white, black, and red for a mix-and-matchable cluster.
-
A338 Pendant
- Designed by: Alvar Aalto
- Made by: Artek
- Price: $290
One of Alvar Aalto's Finnish fixtures for Artek, the on-the-smaller-size A338 will provide direct light from its offset opening in the painted steel shade.
Articles
-
Materials for Consideration
Galerie Kreo is one of the most unique spaces I know of for design. The gallery, run by Didier and Clémence Krzentowski, sees itself as a 'research laboratory,' commissioning and displaying…
-
Southern Comfort
Louisville, Kentucky, is a river town built around 19th-century commerce and trade. Downtown, old brick facades remind of this era of bustling industry when riverboats and trains moved raw…
Products
-
Fountainhead Integral Laminar Faucet
This ADA-compliant faucet, with its single-control joystick valve, has a solid brass construction. This piece is part of the Fountainhead Suite and comes equipped with installation hardware.
-
Swell Seating Collection
Not only made in America, the Swell Seating Collection and its pieces are nearly all made in Pennsylvania. The specialized sewing necessary to produce the slings that make up the seats is done at…
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Related Products
-
Fountainhead Integral Laminar Faucet
This ADA-compliant faucet, with its…
-
Swell Seating Collection
Not only made in America, the Swell Seating…
Latest
-
02.09
An Architecture Guide to Pyongyang
German architect and writer Philipp Meuser realizes that…
-
02.08
Fair Chairs
We continue our coverage of the 2012 Stockholm Furniture and…
-
02.07
Seven from Stockholm Design Week
It's about mid-way through the 2012 Stockholm Design Week and…
Follow
Dwell
-
At the top of the monumental staircase @bsaspace by Howeler+Yoon. Awesome opening tonight @bsaaia! http://t.co/z9cli8TT #design
-
Thanks, @dailytekk, for including @dwell on your list of 100 Best, Most Interesting Blogs & Websites! http://t.co/hbMnDiTO #design
-
Was Mario Manningham's Super Bowl catch a work of #architecture? http://t.co/zxD47gN1
-
“@archpaper: Move over Ice Cube, Moby jams to #architecture, launches new blog about Los Angeles: http://t.co/eVKNB5WK”
These modern lighting fixtures are really awesome. There's a local furniture store in LA called Haus that has great modern lighting for pretty cheap. I love modern furniture, but I don't always love spending lots of money on it, lol.
RSS Feed
Add a Comment