Eye Candy

I first saw the work of Japanese designer Kouichi Okamoto, of Kyouei Design, a few years ago at the designboom mart held during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. He was showing some beautiful ceramics, including a practical and beautiful umbrella stand that I still think about.

Lately I've had lighting on the brain because I need to find ceiling fixtures for several rooms in my house. Okamoto had created whimsical lighting in the past, like this paper lantern designed to look like an actual light bulb. Now it seems the industrial aesthetic that's sweeping lighting design has caught his attention as well. His Reconstructionist Chandelier, pictured above and below, takes the bare-bulb industrial safety clip lamp and elevates it into an open cluster accented by gold.

I like it, but with all of the industrial lighting hitting the marketplace—from Pottery Barn to Schoolhouse Electric and beyond—I imagine that in a few years (or months), this may feel as dated as antlers on the walls.