Chandeliers Go Modern and Green
by Bonnie Alter, London on 02.29.08
Chandeliers make a wonderful focal point for a room. Although we usually think of them as being more suitable for a hotel lobby or ballroom, there are some very funky ones being made, using recycled bits and pieces.
Madeleine Boulesteix makes hers out of vintage tea cups (pictured). She incorporates old kitchen utensils, jello moulds and cookie cutters into the structure. She says "I liberate them from their domestic duties by incorporating them in my chandeliers". She likes the idea of making something quite opulent out of humble objects.
Winnie Lui makes hers from found objects too: buttons, gloves, piping and figurines. Hers are less traditional looking; she likes to do them in either black or white. The composition is very complex and sophisticated and they would be at home in a chic bar or stylish apartment.
In contrast, Kim Songhe's lights are childlike and naif, almost little girlish. This comes from the use of old dolls and toys and stuffed animals that she incorporates into her work. Most of her work is hand crafted, using natural and recycled materials. She says that she wants to "bring new life to objects that were almost dying". :: Evening Standard
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That is the ugliest light fixture I have ever seen.
Looks like a fire hazard to me.
Jon...HAHAHAHA that was the first thing I thought too!
I have one of Madeleine's chandeliers in my work room, and it is beautiful. You see the chandelier first, and only then notice that it is made from stuff more usually found in the kitchen. It has electric light bulbs and candles. It has lovely beads and glass drops. It has an aluminium jelly mould, a gold-leafed glass, there's an egg cup, a Magimix blade, tart tins, and glass Pyrex cups from the 1950s. It is lovely, and much admired.
Joanna
"The composition is very complex and sophisticated and they would be at home in a chic bar or stylish apartment."
I don't even know what to say about that claim it's so far off from reality. There is a difference between "found art" and garbage. These prove that. And where are the CFLs?
The tea cups is a neat idea but still a bit gaudy and something you would find in a grandma's house. The stuffed animals just looks crazy and seams to be a fire hazard. But over all...very cool idea.