Three New Lighting Collaborations to Know
Lighting by Design (14 – 17 November 2022) is set to bring a galaxy of global lighting brands to the Design Avenue – but it would be remiss not to also focus on the showrooms and their incredibly diverse offering when it comes to this essential component of any scheme. Talks and tours throughout the show will turn the spotlight on some newly arrived products, which deserve to be seen in person for their beauty, craftsmanship and technical innovation.
This season is strong on design collaborations – some of them new creative partnerships, some of them the product of fruitful longer-term relationships. Interior designer Beata Heuman has created the Alma collection for Original BTC (above), which is only the second time that the lighting company has collaborated with an outside designer (the first was Sir Terence Conran in 2011). The family of lights all feature a pierced bone-china shade, and Heuman has introduced some colour, too, which is fairly unusual for Original BTC: “I was buying a lot at auction for my house in Sweden so they are a bit of an ode to those functional 40s/50s Scandi designs in pop colours,” she says.
Gareth Devonald-Smith’s work sits comfortably between sculpture and design, which puts him in the perfect place to work with the ever-artistically-minded Porta Romana. He has already created several successful pieces of both lighting and furniture for the brand, and returns with a new collection of seven designs that will launch in time for Lighting by Design, including the ceiling light pictured above. Devonald-Smith will be in the showroom on Wednesday 16 November to talk about the collection and the secrets to statement lighting (book a ticket here).
Vaughan and artist Natasha Mann’s working relationship started when the latter demonstrated her skills in the showroom as part of the Design Centre’s first Artefact show in 2021 (above left). Having discovered a creative kinship, Mann and Lucy Vaughan have now collaborated on two limited-edition painted lampshade designs. Lucy Vaughan provided the design inspiration – a Moroccan rag rug pattern for one and and a fragment of antique textile for the other – which have been beautifully reimaged as paintings. Visit the Vaughan showroom on Wednesday 16 November to see Natasha Mann demonstrate her delicate technique, which uses natural pigments bound by egg tempera.
Original BTC, Second Floor, Centre Dome
Porta Romana, Ground Floor, Centre & South Domes
Vaughan, Ground Floor, Design Centre East
