Lighting Trend: Playing With Paper

The traditional Japanese company Taniguchi Aoya Washi is renowned for creating paper objects so perfectly formed and seamless that they look like blown glass. Nendo had the company blend the technique for achieving flawlessness with another that reveals a beautiful imperfection in its Semi-Wrinkle Washi series for Seibu Department Stores. The paper shades morph smoothly from a wrinkled surface (at top) to flawless one (at bottom). These lamps come in various sizes and in pendant and floor configurations.

Ludovica+Roberto Palomba’s Ritual series is also inspired by traditional Japanese washi paper lamps, but in this case, it’s rendered in glass. The glass diffusers are hand blown in Murano, while the stripes–echoing folds of a paper lantern–are produced using a mold. The lines are then belt-sanded and acid-etched for contrast. A lacquered metal tripod furthers these lamps’ sense of lightness. Although each of Ritual’s three sizes can be used individually (placed on a nightstand, table or the floor–or suspended from a ceiling), the series was designed to be displayed as a trio.  

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