Light My Way, Stranger

On Friday, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture held its first Day of the Dead auction featuring custom-designed lamps by architects and artists from Los Angeles and beyond. The proceeds from the auction will benefit future MAK Center programs and the stewardship of the three Rudolph Schindler dwellings in which their unique programming takes place.

The public opening held within Schindler's pioneering Fitzpatrick-Leland house was the perfect relaxed L.A. party. Part benefit, part critique, part social event, the night brought together friends, peers, artists, architects, and supporters of the MAK Center.

Light My Way, Stranger’s lamp fixtures ranged from reconsiderations of what might be called a lamp to creations repurposing everyday objects and materials to reinterpretations of Schindler to the expected digitally-fabricated creations. Overall, the range of the lamps was impressive, as was the quality— challenges the contributors took seriously, as each lamp required some engineering or at least re-engineering of lamp components.

Most designers consider the lamp to be a house for the light inside, a shade or a shell that shrouds and diffuses raw light, such as Alexis Rochas’ boa-like Light Charming, Ingalill and Roland Wahlroos Ritter’s Lattsinnig, or Ball-Nogues' Music Legs Globe Lamp made out of paper mached toilet paper. For a few, the opportunity was more in redefining the lamp as a structure to create light, such as Sam Durant’s Dead Battery Power, which repurposed dead battery parts, and Renee Petropoulos’s Lamp Opportunistic featuring a mirror intended to capture moonlight. Others mused on Schindler’s language: Andrea Lenardin Madden’s ID 835 lamp interpreted the slot window from the Schindler King’s Road house into a column of light. Francois Perrin’s elegant neon sign spelling out "SPACE" used light as a means to transmit a message about Schindler’s manifesto.

Alexis Rochas, I/O, Light Charming Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Alexis Rochas, I/O, Light Charming

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Alexis Rochas, I/O, Light CharmingPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Alexis Rochas, I/O, Light Charming

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Ball-Nogues Studio, Music Legs Globe LampPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Ball-Nogues Studio, Music Legs Globe Lamp

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Ball-Nogues Studio, Music Legs Globe LampPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Ball-Nogues Studio, Music Legs Globe Lamp

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Ingalill and Roland Wahlroos-Ritter, LattsinnigPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Ingalill and Roland Wahlroos-Ritter, Lattsinnig

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Sam Durant, Dead Battery PowerPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Sam Durant, Dead Battery Power

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Olivia Booth, Grandiloquent StripePhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Olivia Booth, Grandiloquent Stripe

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Tim Durfee, LoopholePhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Tim Durfee, Loophole

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Chu Gooding Architects, UntitledPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Chu Gooding Architects, Untitled

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Kori Newkirk, UntitledPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Kori Newkirk, Untitled

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Heather Flood, What’s Love Got to do with It?Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Heather Flood, What’s Love Got to do with It?

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Barbara Bestor, Drum LightPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Barbara Bestor, Drum Light

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Susan Stilton, She Could Have Danced All NightPhoto by: Patricia Parinejad

Susan Stilton, She Could Have Danced All Night

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Andrea Lenardin Madden/ a l m, ID 835 (Homage to the Kings Road House)Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Andrea Lenardin Madden/ a l m, ID 835 (Homage to the Kings Road House)

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Francois Perrin, Space (Schindler’s Manifesto)Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Francois Perrin, Space (Schindler’s Manifesto)

Photo by: Patricia Parinejad

Linda Taalman
Linda Taalman co-directs Taalman Koch Architecture with her partner Alan Koch in Los Angeles, which has completed a number of award-winning projects including the itHouse (AIA LA Merit Award 2008, Sunset Western Home Awards 2009:...

Published

Last Updated

Get the Dwell Newsletter

Be the first to see our latest home tours, design news, and more.