Lights We Love: Establishment

WORDS Amelia Frenkel PHOTOS Charlie Schuck

Cape Town-based interior design company Establishment imports lights that capture the imagination.

Eskom keeps leaving us in the dark, so we’re all for exquisite light fixtures that shine whether they’re switched on or off.

You could be forgiven for thinking this range of Shape Up lights consisted of delicate pieces of modern jewellery when in fact collages of abstract lampshades are suspended in sculptural compositions via a network of cords and hubs. The use of some surprising shapes and materials – a metal cone, glass sphere, cylinder and arc, for example – form a graphic configuration that is created and adjusted in response to a space’s architecture and function.

“These playful collages upend traditional notions of symmetry,” says Dawid Augustyn, managing director of Establishment, exclusive stockist of Shape Up lights in South Africa. “The lights are LED, so they’re also economical.”

The range is skilfully crafted by Ladies & Gentlemen, a design studio in Seattle in the US that collaborates with exciting independent designers to create a collection of unique lighting fixtures, with hand-blown glass shades by glass designer John Hogan.

Starting prices for lights are from R28 000.