These eight luminaires get creative — or basic — with shape to enliven spaces from hospitality settings to the workplace and home.
Hem
Hem: Alphabeta
Luca Nichetto designed this luminaire for complete customization, with choices of shape and color finish of each top and bottom spun-steel shade (all shade interiors are powder-coated white, however, for optimal light diffusion). While powered on, the pendants provide bidirectional (up- and down-lighting) illumination; switched off, the fixtures become fun, sculptural objects.
Innermost
Innermost: Matrioshka
Named for Russian nesting dolls, this cheeky light pendant combines an illuminated translucent silhouette nested within a colored-glass shade nested within a second colored-glass shade. The glass is hand-blown by artisans in the Czech Republic and comes in red, yellow, blue, and gray tints. Overall dimensions are 24 centimeters in diameter by 32 centimeters high.
James Dieter
James Dieter: Ketta
Kite-like volumes are linked together to create a colorful and dynamic mobile-evoking compositions. Each unit is lit by nine-watt LED lamps and is constructed with fabric held by anodized aluminum or brass components. The fabric comes in a wide range of colors.
LightArt
LightArt: Quad, Loops, Hex, and Delta
Part of the LA2 Essentials Collection, Quad, Loops, Hex, and Delta (also shown at top) draw on basic geometric shapes that make for striking LED suspension luminaires. Quad measures 46 inches square, Loops measures 44 inches in diameter, Hex measures 46 inches in diameter, and Delta measures 46 inches long on each side; all have a height of four inches.
Louis Poulsen
Louis Poulsen: F+P 550
Another fixture with geometric leanings, F+P 550 is an elegant ring-shaped luminaire designed by Foster and Partners that projects glare-free light downward. Composed of die-cast and spun aluminum, plastic, and white opal glass, it weighs a mere 12.1 pounds. The pendant measures 21.7 inches in diameter by 1.4 inches high and takes 30-watt LED (1,606 lumens) lamping.
Luceplan
Luceplan: Tango
Argentinian designer Francisco Gomez Paz channeled the movements of the sensual dance after which this floor lamp is named, ultimately creating this dynamic posture from a triangular steel base and aluminum shafts. Outfitted with linear LEDs, the unit provides dimmable indirect lighting diffused by molded methacrylate.
Rich Brilliant Willing
Rich Brilliant Willing: Crisp
The grooved face of this whimsical wall sconce or ceiling flush-mount fixture might remind some of ruffled potato chips — hence the name. Molded from solid glass, it measures five inches in diameter by three inches deep and provides 700 lumens of LED light in a 2,700-Kelvin white-color temperature.
Tom Dixon
Tom Dixon: Melt
Not to worry: these seemingly melting pendants are really just cleverly designed, misshapen blown-glass spheres. Available in two sizes — 30 and 50 centimeters in diameter — they appear translucent when switched on, but opaque gold, copper, or chrome when powered off.