The Meditative Pastime of Rock Collecting Inspires an Artful Lighting Series

"Each light fixture is inscribed with the name of the beach and the geographic coordinates where its corresponding stone was collected," says Seth Grizzle, founder and creative director of the sustainable lighting brand Graypants. He’s talking about his company’s Pebbles collection of table lamps and pendants, which takes its name and aesthetic cues from rocks the designer found while strolling along Seattle’s coastline.

Part of the brand’s Scraplights line, Pebbles follows the studio’s history of exploring biomimicry and its signature way of articulating the beauty of nature. Like the original Scraplight series, the Pebbles collection relies on found materials—postconsumer corrugated cardboard, in this case—and is sustainably produced. Each shade is laser cut and assembled by hand using nontoxic adhesive.

Shop the Look

Grizzle says the collection nods to nature’s power and genius in creating such subtle, unique forms—hence the interesting asymmetry of the pieces. Each is a study of how water and friction interact, a quiet meditation on time. The shades are available in natural, white, and a new blonde finish. The latter was originally developed for a three-story installation of Graypants’ Moon pendants, and subsequently applied to all its lighting collections. Graypants’ custom projects and shop manager, Alan Marrero, says: "Pebbles pushed us by giving us the impetus to 3D model more organic shapes, and make each one totally unique."

Shop the Look

The newest introductions to the collection include its first table lamp, Ebey, a rounded, crescentlike shape that evokes the sensation of sitting with a chummy companion. "The Ebey is particularly special to me because I picked up the original stone that inspired it on a beach near Deception Pass," says Marrero. "It always reminds me of a really great sunset on the absolute windiest day ever in March."

Created as a statement fixture, the new Madison pendant is the widest of the bunch, with a bulbous form and more pronounced curves. "We felt we needed a bigger Pebble pendant that offered forms not possible in the smaller designs," explains Marrero. Without a long pendant drop, Madison also makes an ideal fixture for lower ceilings.

Shop the Look

Grizzle has found satisfaction in giving concrete form to his appreciation of a subtle, natural process, and he’s far from finished exploring the idea. He says: "Even today, we continue to collect pebbles in our travels for use in future prototypes to expand the line."

Check out Graypants’ full collection of sustainable lighting at graypants.com.