LUNE Rising
By Natasha Ball
The long rumoured lighting collection is finally here. After the ‘soft’ launch of the LUNE Collection during London Craft Week 2024, we can wait no longer to complete our unveiling!
THE STORY BEHIND LUNE
Laura Smith - Molten 1090's creative director and glass artist - carefully crafted these luminescent spheres, using moonlit landscapes and the repeating phases of the lunar cycle as stimuli. The concept first came to realisation during the lockdown of 2020, when the materiality and patterns of the moon became a point of fascination for Laura. LUNE narrates a reimagined dream of the night sky. Lunar landscapes reconceptualised into glinting orbs, silhouetted in the dusk.
"Charting lunar pathways across the night sky became a fascination as the nights of the months passed during the global lockdown. I enjoyed the excitement of how the moon would look each night, becoming obscured and revealed with every passing cloud and the universal accessibility of the night sky with the moon as a homing beacon, as it waxed and waned through the month. For me the moments continuously revealed new landscapes to explore and I wanted to reference the movement of the moon over the night sky, highlighting the texture and beauty of the landscape.
The pieces in the collection talk to each other, but also stand alone. I honed in on textures and shapes on the surface of the moon, taking pockets and zooming in to focus on the detail of the terrain while referencing the gentle arc of the moon tracking across the night sky, influences which resulted in the ceiling pendants design.
Both soft craters and rocks scatter across the lunar landscape inspiring the table lamps which are playful shapes and use the reflection of the metal leaf to create a beautiful backdrop for the lunar terrain. The complimentary bespoke lampshades complete the collection as they inhabit a beautiful structural compliment to the glass and metals. The hand strung shades enhance the movement of the moon in gorgeous arcs and dips.”
- Laura Smith
"The suspended pendants and the tactile surface table lamps embody the essence of the lunar landscapes from my imagination."
- Laura Smith
THE LUNE (re)CYCLE
Deeply embedded in the Molten 1090 ethos, circular design is the foundation of everything we craft. FLECK is a sparkling showcase of this design principle. Laura's use of incorporating the excess glass from FLECK products is instinctive to a skilled craftsman.
FLECK - Molten 1090s maiden tableware collection - is built on the iridescent and glimmering qualities that are achieved when gold or silver leaf is worked into molten glass. In the LUNE collection, we can see the same lustre effect accomplished, due to the molten hot circularity that is at the centre of our brand. Excess FLECK products are given a new lease of life in an entirely different composition of form, texture, and light.
"With the launch of Molten 1090 in 2022, and circularity being at the forefront of the brand mission, when designing our first lighting collection I wanted to incorporate the excess from our FLECK products in an organic and intuitive way."
- Laura Smith
ILLUMINATING LUNE
Once the heat of the kiln has dissipated, the mottling of gold and silver leaf is seen dancing beneath the surface of the molten glass. LUNE is once again resurrected to reflect its initial molten state, this time through the filament of a bulb.
With a selection of table lamps and ceiling lights in silver and gold, the LUNE collection speaks naturally to the evolution of Molten 1090 and we’re excited to share with the world a lighting collection that will no doubt bring charm and sophistication to any room.
