Crafting a Pearler: Blending Light and Nature for Grand Designs

Crafting a Pearler: Blending Light and Nature for Grand Designs

The story of this lighting project began with a serendipitous connection to the home owners through Alex Brunton, a photographer inspired by Tasmania's off-grid charm and its striking scenery. Recognizing the potential for a distinctive lighting experience put me in touch with to Dan and Chloe, a couple embarking on a visionary home build, soon to be featured on ABC’s Grand Designs.

By mid-2023, I was introduced to the project with an open brief and an exciting challenge. Through a series of meetings, I explored their innovative use of hempcrete, their affinity for ambient light, use of locally sourced timber, and the expansive windows in the architectural plans of their home. Dan and Chloe's desire for handcrafted beauty over commercial designs led them to be very trusting of my understanding of the process of blown glass lighting to tie in with the interior design elements of the home.

With this foundation, I began contemplating how best to translate these elements into lighting design. The challenge was to create a lighting scheme that would enhance the home's ambiance while harmonizing with its architectural features. Something I’d noticed and loved from my trips to Tasmania was the permeating style of the buildings to bring the outside in through framed vistas of windows, something that made interior spaces feeling comfortable and natural. I looked to draw concepts between the home and its surroundings. The home’s large windows already brought the outside in, creating a seamless connection with the natural world. My goal was to extend this integration by designing lights that echoed the patterns and forms of the outdoor environment. Inspired by Tasmania’s natural wonders—its oyster beds, vibrant surf spots, and exquisite wildlife—I envisioned a lighting design that would echo the region’s essence. This led me to explore the form of the oyster and its association with Tasmania’s coastal beauty.

The concept of a pearl nestled within an oyster shell became a guiding motif, the light encased in a sculptural outer shell emerged as a perfect solution to diffuse light softly while adding visual interest. The shape’s encapsulating intention of a form protected in another form brought about a pleasant feeling. It functioned well as the home’s ambient lighting and complemented the hand-blown glass, with the diffusing pearl addressing the common issue of the glass color being washed out by light exposure.

The next step was to explore the color palette and its relationship with the home’s materials. Inspired by the earthy tones of the rammed earth walls and the rich hues of the milled Myrtle timber, I selected colors that would blend seamlessly with these natural elements. This approach ensured that the lighting would complement the existing materials.

After this a period of extensive ideation and prototyping took place in the glassblowing studio. An experimental process was developed to achieve the vision of the form and relied heavily on the many hands of the assistant’s participation in the making. It developed to be a rather stunning process using the fleeting heat of the molten glass in an ephemeral moment that formed the central element of the pearl. It was a nice moment of resolution to have photographer Alex there to capture these scenes with the team working towards the delicate forms.