The Under-the-Radar Craftsman Behind a Very Iconic Masterpiece

In 2001, after the Doolittles moved in, Vugrin continued designing abroad, living near Cognac, France, and in Carrara, Italy. "I had cut some pieces of marble, like a quarter-inch thick, and I had them leaning up against a window frame, and the light was passing through," he recalls of a moment of inspiration in his Italian apartment. From that epiphany sprang the Sputnik-esque lights above the tables, stars illuminating the skeletal forms below.