The Lamp That Nine Artisans Built by Hand - Yanko Design

Lamps from Taiwan-Lantern are designed to be studied rather than ignored. The forms draw from traditional East Asian paper lanterns, using oval bodies stretched over ribbed structures. Pleated fabric is pulled taut over the ribs, with vertical seams running from top to bottom. When unlit, the matte fabric and ribbed geometry feel sculptural and ceramic-like. When lit, the fabric glows from within, casting warm amber light that bleeds between ribs and projects thin shadow lines onto the floor. Floor lamps stack two oval forms with a bead collar, include a marble base and material transitions, and finish with ceramic and brass elements. Table lamps use a single lantern body with the same visual logic.

"Most lamps disappear into a room. They're functional, fine, forgettable. The new collection from Taiwan-Lantern, shown this week at ICFF during NYCxDESIGN in New York, does the opposite. These are lamps you stop in front of. Lamps you study. Objects that reward attention the longer you give them."

"The lantern bodies themselves are pleated fabric pulled taut over a ribbed structure, with vertical seams running from crown to base like meridian lines on a globe. Unlit, the forms are sculptural and matte, almost ceramic in feeling, which is part of what makes them so surprising when the light comes on. The fabric glows from within, casting a warm amber that bleeds between each rib and throws thin lines of shadow onto the floor below."

"The floor lamps take this further by stacking two of these oval forms vertically, separated by a collar of small hand-strung beads, pale or dark depending on the colorway. The overall silhouette is monumental and a little totemic, tall enough to feel architectural, grounded enough to feel domestic. A round marble disc sits at the very base, and a dark wooden platform separates the stone from the lantern body above it."

"At the top, a small ceramic collar and a brass arch handle, finished with a hand-knotted rope loop, completes the form. Each of those transitions between materials is considered. Nothing gaps. Nothing looks like an afterthought."

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