Sculptural Lighting: Everything You Want to Know
Danielle Amir-Lobel, Editorial Manager
November 8, 2021
Sculptural lighting replaces your classic, bland light bulbs with a luxurious artistic sculpture that is both functional and beautiful. Sculptural lighting can take many forms from a chandelier to a sconce, lamp, floor lamp, pendant, or drop pendant. The design options in sculptural lighting are limitless, and these gravity-defying, often geometric designs add a modern glam to standard LED lights.
One of Wescover’s Creators, Ovature Studios, located in Gothenburg, Sweden, specializes in creating beautiful, collectible, sculptural lighting objects. Their designs are inspired by organic patterns and repetitions found in nature and utilize these unique phenomena as inspirations for their completely customizable creations. We asked Ovature Studios to provide us with insider insights into sculptural lighting, their creation, and how you can incorporate it into your design style in the below interview.
What is sculptural lighting?
Sculptural lighting (also known as decorative lighting) describes a source of light in which the fixture, arrangement, and look, sense, or meaning of the object are more important than the output of light itself. The artist therefore places more attention on the aesthetics of the piece rather than its function. It can be thought of as a modern corollary to a Menorah from thousands of years ago: the gold, shaped structure holds a deeper religious, historical, and aesthetic meaning than the lighting it exudes.
What materials are most common to use when creating a sculptural lighting piece?
Like with all art, the mediums or materials used when creating a lighting piece are open to the designer’s creativity and experimentation. Our studio uses a wide variety of mediums and has even trialled (unsuccessfully I must add) with fish scales! Personally, I like working with semi-precious metals like brass, bronze, and nickel-silver. Although unforgiving to work with, these materials bear a timeless and jewel-like association from adorning beautiful spaces throughout past and present.
Where does your inspiration for creating your unique lighting objects come from?
I like to think that, to become good at most things, you need some obsessive facet to your character. In my case, I look for design inspirations constantly and in everything around me. I look at most things through the lens of a potential design, whether it is the autumn leaves, the curve of my four year old son’s toy car, his little sister’s eyes (see our Bonnie range), or even something I only thought I saw. Everything I encounter, I add to my mental library for new designs.
If I have an idea that is relatively simple to prototype, I will mock up the design and make edits by eye. If the idea is more complicated structurally, I will create a 3D model of the design on the computer and make edits in that way. I never stick with my first concept: my process is all about practicing, refining, and progressing, so my final designs have gone through many tweaks before becoming a reality.
What interior design style works best with sculptural lighting?
Any good interior design style will support some form of sculptural lighting, as designs are versatile and can add diverse features to your design style. Artistic lighting objects can either accent or contrast your existing design elements, and it can either be the attention-drawing focus piece or an integrated element in your spaces—the design options are endless.
How much does an artistic lighting design usually cost?
As in most artistic fields, the monetary value of sculptural lighting has a vast range often determined by originality, materials, process, rarity, and clientele. Our pieces are handmade in limited numbers (and often created for one-off requests) in our Swedish workshop. We have worked with globally recognized interior designers, a musical icon, and a US presidential family, so our work is often found in the higher end of the market and is usually priced accordingly.
If you’re tired of traditional, unoriginal lighting, sculptural lighting is the perfect modern touch for your spaces: adding both functionality and aesthetics. Wescover has a wide array of lighting options available to serve your lighting needs more broadly. We have also carefully curated a collection of Wescover’s Best of Sculptural Lighting that is definitely worth checking out. Of course, to view more of Ovature’s Studio unique, handmade, and thoughtfully designed lighting pieces, visit their collection on Wescover.
Danielle Amir-Lobel, Editorial Manager
November 8, 2021
Sculptural lighting replaces your classic, bland light bulbs with a luxurious artistic sculpture that is both functional and beautiful. Sculptural lighting can take many forms from a chandelier to a sconce, lamp, floor lamp, pendant, or drop pendant. The design options in sculptural lighting are limitless, and these gravity-defying, often geometric designs add a modern glam to standard LED lights.
One of Wescover’s Creators, Ovature Studios, located in Gothenburg, Sweden, specializes in creating beautiful, collectible, sculptural lighting objects. Their designs are inspired by organic patterns and repetitions found in nature and utilize these unique phenomena as inspirations for their completely customizable creations. We asked Ovature Studios to provide us with insider insights into sculptural lighting, their creation, and how you can incorporate it into your design style in the below interview.
What is sculptural lighting?
Sculptural lighting (also known as decorative lighting) describes a source of light in which the fixture, arrangement, and look, sense, or meaning of the object are more important than the output of light itself. The artist therefore places more attention on the aesthetics of the piece rather than its function. It can be thought of as a modern corollary to a Menorah from thousands of years ago: the gold, shaped structure holds a deeper religious, historical, and aesthetic meaning than the lighting it exudes.
What materials are most common to use when creating a sculptural lighting piece?
Like with all art, the mediums or materials used when creating a lighting piece are open to the designer’s creativity and experimentation. Our studio uses a wide variety of mediums and has even trialled (unsuccessfully I must add) with fish scales! Personally, I like working with semi-precious metals like brass, bronze, and nickel-silver. Although unforgiving to work with, these materials bear a timeless and jewel-like association from adorning beautiful spaces throughout past and present.
Where does your inspiration for creating your unique lighting objects come from?
I like to think that, to become good at most things, you need some obsessive facet to your character. In my case, I look for design inspirations constantly and in everything around me. I look at most things through the lens of a potential design, whether it is the autumn leaves, the curve of my four year old son’s toy car, his little sister’s eyes (see our Bonnie range), or even something I only thought I saw. Everything I encounter, I add to my mental library for new designs.
If I have an idea that is relatively simple to prototype, I will mock up the design and make edits by eye. If the idea is more complicated structurally, I will create a 3D model of the design on the computer and make edits in that way. I never stick with my first concept: my process is all about practicing, refining, and progressing, so my final designs have gone through many tweaks before becoming a reality.
What interior design style works best with sculptural lighting?
Any good interior design style will support some form of sculptural lighting, as designs are versatile and can add diverse features to your design style. Artistic lighting objects can either accent or contrast your existing design elements, and it can either be the attention-drawing focus piece or an integrated element in your spaces—the design options are endless.
How much does an artistic lighting design usually cost?
As in most artistic fields, the monetary value of sculptural lighting has a vast range often determined by originality, materials, process, rarity, and clientele. Our pieces are handmade in limited numbers (and often created for one-off requests) in our Swedish workshop. We have worked with globally recognized interior designers, a musical icon, and a US presidential family, so our work is often found in the higher end of the market and is usually priced accordingly.
If you’re tired of traditional, unoriginal lighting, sculptural lighting is the perfect modern touch for your spaces: adding both functionality and aesthetics. Wescover has a wide array of lighting options available to serve your lighting needs more broadly. We have also carefully curated a collection of Wescover’s Best of Sculptural Lighting that is definitely worth checking out. Of course, to view more of Ovature’s Studio unique, handmade, and thoughtfully designed lighting pieces, visit their collection on Wescover.