"Luminous" lighting exhibition opens end February

Southern Light, Darren Fry. Photo: Grant Hancock

LUMINOUS: Contemporary Australian Pendant Lighting is showing at JamFactory, Adelaide in Gallery Two from 28 February – 28 April 2019.

Lighting is an essential yet often overlooked element in everyday living. We rely on lighting to illuminate our homes, workplaces, streets and the countless other spaces that we spend time in during the course of our busy lives. Given the centrality of light to daily life, it is often surprising that the majority of lighting we encounter day to day is mass-produced, dull, bland and uninspiring, often with an emphasis on subdued design, a minimalist aesthetic and inconspicuous placement. However, designers and makers choose to celebrate light by creating dynamic, high quality lighting pieces that balance form and function to enhance and energise our spaces.

V-Demi Conus pendant, Geoffrey Cameron Marshall

JamFactory presents Luminous, an exhibition of pendant lighting crafted by eight contemporary Australian designers and makers. The exhibition showcases eight very different approaches to the design and manufacture of pendant lighting through careful and considered attention to form, materiality and the desired ambiance the piece will imbue on spaces. Incorporating diverse materials such as timber, glass, carbon fibre, metal, porcelain, plastic, brass and reclaimed components, the pendant lights featured in Luminous showcase the innovative approaches and aesthetics of Australia’s brightest designers.

Curated by JamFactory Assistant Curator Caitlin Eyre, Luminous features a range of new and existing pieces from both emerging and established designers and makers, many of whom are exhibiting in Adelaide for the first time. The featured artists, designers and makers are Ruth Allen (Vic), Geoffrey Cameron Marshall (TAS), Alex Fitzpatrick (NSW), Darren Fry (SA), Nicholas Fuller (SA), Adrian Lawson (NSW), Barry Magazinovic (SA) and Porcelain Bear (Vic).

Ruth Allen is a Melbourne-based multi-media artist who works primarily with glass, light, kinetics and the poetics of experience. She creates bespoke pendant lighting that is crafted from upcycled glass bottles sourced from the local community and transformed using traditional hot glass techniques. For Luminous, Allen will present a custom-made pendant light from her current range of recycled glass lighting.

Geoffrey Cameron Marshall is a Tasmanian designer and maker who blends aesthetics with functionality and is inspired by everyday human interactions. Drawing inspiration from natural forms, cultural motifs and symbols, Marshall’s current practice is focused on combining new technologies with traditional making techniques. Inspired by the discovery of a shark egg during a family walk at the beach, Marshall’s Swell pendant light is a minimalist exploration of natural forms.

A Design Studio is an award-winning lighting design and manufacturing studio led by Sydney-based designer Alex Fitzpatrick. The studio uses traditional glassblowing and metalworking skills as well as contemporary lighting and manufacturing technologies to create pieces that transform space with light. The exhibition will feature A Design Studio’s Eon range, which was conceived as a means to unite celebrated American lighting designer Richard Kelly’s three great design principles into a single light.

Southern Light, Darren Fry. Photo: Grant Hancock

Darren Fry is an Adelaide-based designer and maker with a career spanning more than 25 years. His passion for the natural environment and the materiality of high quality timbers is paired with a commitment to refined design and impeccable craftsmanship. For Luminous, Fry is crafting a pendant light based on his award-winning Southern Light, which recently received the Workshopped18 Award for Established Design and the JP Finsbury Timber Award.

Nicholas Fuller is an Adelaide-based designer and maker whose work reflects a commitment to high quality craftsmanship and considered design. In 2017, Fuller received the Design Institute of Australia’s Gold Award in Furniture/Lighting and his practice is currently focused on expanding his lighting collection. Fuller will be debuting a pendant light from his new range that explores balance and the transformation of materials often found in manufacture and industry.

Adrian Lawson is an award-winning lighting designer and maker whose practice is focused on crafting sustainable lighting from repurposed timber venetian blinds. Originally from a small coastal island off the west coast of Scotland, Lawson’s early experiences with remote living and the necessity of upcycling instilled him with the ingenuity to repurpose discarded materials into beautiful design objects. The Azebo 990 pendant light is one of Lawson’s first attempts to enlarge his standard versions and are the result of Lawson’s dedication in designing and building numerous tools to aid in the making process.

Barry Magazinovic is an Adelaide-based industrial designer and maker whose practice is underscored by a broad understanding of manufacturing processes and materials. Working as Obelia Studio, Magazinovic crafts lighting that is an investigation of the beautiful moments in nature that are often overlooked. The delicate forms and colour palettes of his pieces are an embodiment of these experiences in a bid to overcome the increasing isolation felt in modern society.

Porcelain Bear is a creative collaboration between Melbourne-based duo Gregory Bonasera and Anthony Raymond. The studio creates unique porcelain furniture, lighting and homewares that bear the hallmarks of considered design and fine craftsmanship, transforming the centuries-old material into covetable contemporary design pieces. The Forward Bend pendant light emits an ambient glow through translucent white porcelain vessels and balances complexity of design with elegance and simplicity of form.

Learn more at JamFactory