Catellani and Smith Lighting as Art

Every piece is assembled by hand, and that is visible. Surfaces are irregular where a machine would make them uniform, and no two fittings are quite identical. In a room of industrial finishes that irregularity is the point.

The studio works with gold and silver leaf, hand-blown and worked glass, and small LED sources placed to catch those surfaces. The light is reflected and broken up rather than projected, so what reaches the room is soft, warm and full of small highlights.

These are not fittings for lighting a work surface. They are chosen for the atmosphere they create: a dark wall with a few points of warm light on it, a dining room where the light seems to hang in the air, a hallway with one object that makes the whole space feel considered.

The natural pairing is with discreet functional lighting doing the practical work nearby, leaving the Catellani and Smith piece free to be looked at.