Light Up Interiors With Kawabi’s Meditative Collection

The company’s name is a portmanteau of three words from different languages: ka means “story” in Sanskrit, wa is Japanese for “paper,” and bi is how you pronounce “pen” in Mandarin. It’s also the last name of cofounders Aaron and Irisa Kawabi, who launched their eponymous New York studio Kawabi in 2022 after crafting light fixtures for their own Bed-Stuy apartment. Last November, the pair joined the roster of Tribeca showroom Colony, marking that occasion with an exhibition of a meditative new collection. Pleated Japanese kozo paper is the key material, paying homage to a humble paper lantern the pair purchased in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The archlike shade of Souvenir, in floor and table lamp versions, merges Asian iconography and contemporary aesthetics—a nod to the couple’s shared Chinese ancestry. The Legume table lamp, with a reed-bound paper shade on a white-oak stool/base, suggests a delicate seed pod. And in Cascade, interlocking maple or walnut arms frame a trio of elliptical lanterns, suspended in a dynamic cluster. All are handmade to order.