Chandeliers Made from Water Tower Redwood Debut During Milan Design Week
During Milan Design Week, Stickbulb will introduce a new series of LED chandeliers made from and inspired by destroyed buildings. Designed by RUX, a multidisciplinary design firm based in New York City, Boom features cast-brass joints and linear wooden bulbs to create forms of exploding light. Select fixtures made from Water Tower Redwood, redwood reclaimed from demolished NYC water tanks, will debut at the venerable Rossana Orlandi showroom (Via Matteo Bandello, 14/16) on April 4 and in a temporary exhibit at Archiproducts Milano (Via Tortona 31) during Fuorisalone from April 4-9.
“Our fixtures are literally born from the destruction of architecture. We celebrate this energy and history in the form and function of our designs,” states Stickbulb Co-Founder and RUX Founder Russell Greenberg.
The expressive form of Boom is achieved with minimal elements. At the center of the fixture is a singularity of cast-brass joints, elegantly curved to dramatically reflect the geometry of the fixture. Linear wooden bulbs – the essence of all Stickbulb designs – in varying lengths cantilever from the brass core, each one emitting a line of even light in a different direction. The result is an explosion of richly textured wood that casts dynamic patterns of light and shadow.
The first iteration of Boom will be presented in a new wood type, Water Tower Redwood, which is sourced from dismantled water towers in New York City. The reclaimed wood is rich and red in color and threaded with occasional black veins. Years of exposure to sun, wind, rain, and snow on one side and contact with water on the other have resulted in a material with unique color banding that is full of character and strikingly beautiful.
Originating from the Pacific coastal forests of Northern California and Oregon, the noble and majestic Sequoia Sempervirens is a species that contains the largest and tallest trees in the world, many with a lifespan of thousands of years. Viewed by Steinbeck as “ambassadors from another time,” sadly only 5% of the original estimated two million acres of redwood forest that he, Walt Whitman or John Muir would have ventured through still remain. Some of the redwood that once stood tall in the forest made its way to the East Coast and, because of its ability to hold water and resist rot, was considered an ideal material for water tower fabrication. After considerable research and testing, Stickbulb has acquired a large supply of this beautiful, old growth wood and now offers Water Tower Redwood with its collection of sleek, modern lighting fixtures ranging from table lamps to large-scale chandeliers.
About Stickbulb
Stickbulb was co-founded in 2012 by Yale School of Architecture graduates Russell Greenberg and Christopher Beardsley as a way to combine their mutual love of architecture, modular systems, and sustainable manufacturing. Born from a pile of scrap wood, the original objective of Stickbulb was to “build with light,” which has since been fulfilled in collaborations with brands like Google, Facebook and Wholefoods as well as private commissions for hotels, offices and residences across the globe. Designed by RUX, Stickbulb LED fixtures are handcrafted in New York City from sleek wooden beams using reclaimed materials sourced from locally demolished buildings and sustainably managed forests. Stickbulb products range from small desk lamps to room-filling custom installations and can be found in a growing list of international showrooms. http://stickbulb.com