Product

These Glowing Fabric and Resin Chandeliers Are All One of a Kind

The Sunbeam Jackie pieces, which blend sculptural know-how with an aesthetic reminiscent of Tiffany stained glass, will debut at Liberty London tomorrow

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Some of the best design products being created today combine seemingly disparate techniques and references to yield wonderfully inventive pieces. Case in point: Sunbeam Jackie's debut chandeliers, which are set to be unveiled tomorrow morning at London's famed Liberty London store. To understand the various elements that it took to make these glowing, fresh, yet seemingly historic pieces a reality, one must go on an odyssey of sorts—through the layered experiences, surroundings, and interests of Sunbeam Jackie's founders, Charlie and Katy Napier.

The chandeliers will debut on Thursday at Liberty London—a store wonderfully saturated with Arts and Crafts and floral-filled design history.

Photo: Courtesy of Sunbeam Jackie

The duo, partners in work and in life, may be best known within the design community for their colorfully patchworked and easily stake-able parasols. But while the parasols—which, as the chandeliers will soon be, are available on 1stdibs—appear to be visually similar to the company's new light fixtures, they are structurally quite different. "We’re both fine artists, sculptors, so that’s the spigot through which everything comes," Charlie explains to AD PRO, of himself and Katy. "We felt that lighting was an opportunity to have a sculptural [presence] in an interior setting. It's challenging [to think], how do you bring what we do to the marketplace. But we're stepping outside of the more rarefied world of fine art."

Charlie, who notes that the chandeliers fuse the couple's shared interests in form and texture, emphasizes what a true collaboration these works are. "Every single chandelier is different. We’ll say, 'Okay, what color do we want to create with this one?'" He also adds that the couple draw from "hundreds of pieces of vintage and antique fabric that we have collected over the years. [Katy] will go into the studio and basically curate the fabric."

However, in order to transform these bits and pieces of colorful textiles into viable and cohesive structures, the Napiers have had to draw upon the expertise within their surrounding community. That community is West Cornwall—a coastal region that Charlie describes as not unlike a rural California. It's far from London (Charlie hasn't yet set out for Liberty from the couple's 12th-century farm when we speak). It's also a big surfing area.

Each chandelier is a distinct piece—thanks to the fact that no two sets of vintage fabrics are alike. While the company is debuting with one light-fixture silhouette, more are slated to come.

Photo: Courtesy of Sunbeam Jackie

As it happens, the surfboard shapers of West Cornwall have just the right expertise for the resin-casting work that the Napiers need to make their chandeliers a reality. "It’s brought us into professional contact with people around us," Charlie, who is not immune to the joys of surfing himself, reflects. "It's a really nice vibe—they're into it and we're into what they do." In short, "it's a bonding experience, even if that sounds really cheesy," he says with a laugh.

It also means that the chandeliers are produced locally. And for the Napiers—that seems like the most sensible way to get things done. "We’re artists, and we need visibility and control. If we don’t have the skill set, we’ll go and find the people who do," Charlie says. Like their collaborators, the couple brings a level of perfectionism to their creations. After about 300 resin-cast windows of fabric snippets have been cut, Katy edits the group down to around 150 final selections.

The end result is a glowing confection, not dissimilar to the effect rendered by a Tiffany lamp. While Charlie is aware of this shared reminiscent quality, that was not his original intent. (He does, however, bring up his great affinity for the stained glass rose windows of Gothic cathedrals.) Regardless, more abstract qualities of Tiffany's famed fixtures hold commonalities with the Napiers' products.

"You know how when you walk past a house with a Tiffany lamp in the window, you just just turn your head?" Charlie asks. "We wanted to start with a really exuberant and eye-catching shape," he says, noting that more silhouettes of the designs are set to come. Ultimately, that shared resonance may trace back to "that same warmth and joy," as he puts it. Indeed, because if one thing is clear upon viewing Sunbeam Jackie's new works, it's that they are brimming with both traits.