As we prepare to wind back the clocks, we’ve been thinking about all the ways we can live in the light. The kind of ideas and rituals we partake in. And how we can make coming home the most sumptuous of them all. Far too rambunctious a theme for a newsletter alone, we’ve laid it all out in our A/W lighting report: a dossier detailing all the people and objects committed to creating a brighter tomorrow.

Of all of design’s many luxuries, the chandelier is perhaps the most flamboyant. A glamorous spectacle of light designed to see and be seen. And yet in 2021, designers are rethinking its iconic form, peeling back the layers of ostentation to arrive at something more truthful.

One case in point comes from Danish design studio, Space Copenhagen. In collaboration with Gubi, they’ve brought forth the Howard Chandelier — a spellbinding light that is as minimal as it is grand. For anyone with a penchant for industrial design, it’s a real find — the kind of style that promises to works hard for your affection, while developing a beautiful patina with time.

Pomposity isn’t the only virtue under the microscope this season. Today’s designers have also been reevaluating their methods of making. The quarter began with an announcement that Italian lighting brand, Flos, are now officially carbon neutral. The achievement is largely due to investments in renewable energy for their factories, but can also be attributed to the decision to make sure that any new releases can be fully recycled after their lifetime. 

Sustainable sensibilities can also be found at smaller ateliers like BROKIS. Novelties like the Geometric Table Lamp gain their ethereal appearance from BrokisGlass — an upcycled material that reutilises shards of glass from the factory floor. Taken together, they represent a commitment to closing the circle of production, once again cementing design’s role as a protagonist in the fight for a sustainable future.

If politics can sometimes feel perplexing, then you wouldn’t have wanted to spend much time with Raimond Puts. As an outspoken professor-cum-designer, he spent most of his time thinking about prime numbers — the mystery of such digits and their many aesthetic possibilities.

It’s an obsession that’s led this year to the new and expanded Raimond Collection — a series of glowing geodesic domes that bring the wonder of a starry night home. When we dug a little deeper, we were surprised to find that Puts wasn’t alone in his metaphysical musings. Meticulous precision can also be found in Louis Poulsen's Patera pendant: a luminous style with diamond-shaped cells that deliver a rich, atmospheric glow.

Untethered from unsightly cables and wires, these nomadic little creations encourage you to get outside and explore. Some of them, like the Flowerpot Table Lamp, you will undoubtedly recognise — an iconic Verner Panton style set free. Others like the Sfera collection are entirely new. Tucked inside its brutalist base is a charging module and touch dimmer, ensuring that you’ll never be left in the dark this season.

We are creatures of five senses. And as design lovers, we only really thrive when all of them are in play. It’s why whenever we’re designing a room, we encourage our clients not only to consider how it looks, but how each of the styles make them feel. In keeping for this desire for tactility are a series of rich and inviting stones, used for the very first time in contemporary lighting.

When paired with the soft sweep of a linen shade, they serve as a cool anchor. A heart of stone for the soft halo of light that follows. They also inject a necessary dose of glamour into everyday lighting — an art form long dominated by the use of glass or steel.

One of the most generous gifts a designer can bestow isn’t to do with its style or finish — although all these details are important. Rather, it’s to let us into the act of creation, deciding exactly when, where and how much light is needed. This season, we were delighted to stumble across a selection of luminaires that did just that. In the new PLIÉ PLISSÉ Lamp, it’s pleated shade can be folded inwards or out. A simple gesture that allows it to provide both ambient and directional light.

AQUA CREATIONS, meanwhile, take customisation a little further, with a stackable series of silk lanterns that can be personalised down to the very last detail. Known as the Code 130 collection, they promise to give you one more reason to look up and smile.