April 20, 2020
10 Minimal Light Fixtures That Turn Technology into Poetry
As manufacturers increasingly integrate LEDs and other tech into light fixtures, they are becoming sleeker and more understated than ever.
Few luminaires illustrate the current trend to miniaturize and conceal light sources and their underlying components like Lámina. The modular pendants from Barcelona-based manufacturer Santa & Cole are so streamlined, they’re practically wispy, resembling a series of delicate bird feeders.
The line was created by Antoni Arola, who conducts his own lighting research and has been nicknamed “a poet of light” for his skill in marrying function and style. He describes Lámina’s refined profile as simply “a line of light and a thin metal sheet.” But it is carefully engineered to emphasize reflected illumination and maximize the glow of its tiny, hidden light sources with the generous white arch of the shade. The canopy size can be specified as narrow as roughly one foot and as dramatically wide as almost three feet. The unassuming linear housing contains rows of warm and dimmable 2700K LEDs, and what appears to be a paper for the shade is actually sheet metal and a layer of polycarbonate, which acts as the reflector. Thin power cords give the units (which come in lengths of 38 and 70 inches) a kitelike buoyancy and make it easy to combine them in new configurations.
Arola, whose oeuvre also extends to furniture and packaging, considers Lámina’s visual impact poetic and practical. That aesthetic seems to be catching on; the same thing could be said of a number of innovative lighting solutions we’ve found.
You may also enjoy “In Lighting Wells Fargo’s Offices, Kugler Ning Foregrounds Natural Rhythms.”
Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: [email protected]
Register here for Metropolis Forums Webinars
Connect with experts and design leaders on the most important conversations of the day.
