A pendant light is clearly an object that has weight, and which hangs from a cable or rod. But there are some that, by various means, seem to defy gravity, adding a lightness and movement to the spaces that they are in.
Sometimes they appear to be dancing, like LZF's spinning Minimikado:
Aimei from Arturo Alvarez has a similar sense of movement—of freedom, of joy:
Or lightness can be evoked through swimming, rather than flying, by creating a luminaire that looks as if it is floating gently through a quiet sea, like Mytilus, also by Arturo Alvarez:
...or Luceplan's utterly stunning, gravity-defying Illan:
Of course, you could be a bit more literal, like LZF, and make a luminaire that is a fish! This is Koi (a very big fish, at 352cm long)...
But lights are not normally under water, so let's emulate things that float freely in the air, like soap bubbles. As I've written before, I am a big fan of Neo/Craft's Iris. In a world full of glass spheres, partly because of the soap-like multicoloured dichroic effect on the surface, this is one of the finest:
Quasar's Universe series by Jan Pauwels always looks light and delicate, in whatever configuration. In Philae, he turns to another airborne subject, leaves:
Whereas Céline Wright, another favourite of mine, thinks of clouds. This is her Cirrus:
And Nuage—so light that it needs a little stone to stop it floating away!
Céline's work weighs as little as a cloud anyway, being handmade from Japanese paper. The lightest lights of all, though (because they are made from a revolutionary new carbon fibre) is the Haute Couture collection from Artelier C. The lack of weight means that they need virtually nothing to hang them from, however large they are:
An important category of decorative light is the small pendant designed to be hung in multiples. Catellani & Smith's Gold Moon is a fine example, here like autumn leaves being blown in the wind:
This installation was in the London showroom:
But such pendants are usually made of glass. And, if that's what you want, go for the best! For the Boule series, Windfall commissioned from Swarovski their largest ever single, commercially-available crystal.
Here they are wheeling through the air, as if in a time-lapse photograph:
Or descending like slow hail:
Making crystal appear to fly is a Windfall speciality, of course—just think of the their Balance chandeliers. But there are others. This is Lula, named in honour of Clarissa's sadly now departed dog:
The magic partly happens because the crystals hang from the slimmest, almost invisible wires. They can be so slim because the crystals don't have lamps in them, so they don't require an electricity supply.
The components of Windfall's Flower series are far smaller:
Whereas in Eden we see whole branches of delicate blossom:
So, do you agree? That by creating a sense of movement, by emulating things that fly (clouds, leaves, bubbles), by being genuinely very lightweight, and by never needing intrusive suspension cables, lights can fly?
They don't have to seem heavy, hanging over people's heads like the sword of Damocles, and they don't have to block views. They can be light, delicate, free, joyous. If you feel that this is the spirit that would suit a project of yours, do get in touch!
Lula the light:
Lula, the loved and loving, irreplaceable dog:
