Strata Chandelier
My role:
Designer, Project Manager
My responsibilities:
Led concept development, material exploration, and production coordination for a custom architectural lighting fixture.
Project Overview
A custom architectural lighting fixture designed to expand D’Haene Studio’s presence into high-end interior and architectural markets.
I worked in close partnership with a lighting engineer to develop a custom LED system integrated directly into the porcelain forms.
The result was a structurally sound, exhibition-ready fixture that balanced handcrafted ceramic language with scalable production constraints. Delivered on a condensed four-month timeline, the final piece balances expressive ceramic form with the technical demands of architectural lighting.
Challenge
D-Haene Studio is primarily known for vessels with expressive surface textures.
Entering the architectural interiors market would require aligning the studio’s handcrafted brand with industrial materials to meet the engineering requirements of a hanging lighting system.
Opportunity
How might we...
Translate the language of D-Haene Studio’s handcrafted vessels into a lighting installation that marries organic forms with engineered specificity?
Key Objectives
Integrate custom lighting components with porcelain to create the illusion of light emanating from within.
Develop methods for rapid production of 50 large scale porcelain discs.
Achieve pilot prototype and installation in 4 months.
Solution
The fixture was developed as a modular system of porcelain discs integrating LED components mounted on custom PCBs. Acrylic spacers introduced to diffuse light evenly while maintaining the perception of a continuous beam, reducing glare and visual breaks between components. Configurable stacking patterns support optimization in overall diameter, density, and geometry, enabling the system to adapt across architectural contexts.
Surface treatment on the rippling discs was tuned to enable responsiveness with dim-to warm capability (3000K-1800K), transitioning from bright cream, to a moody sunset.
Sketches
The artistic director, Jane D’Haene, had a vision to stack thin sheets of porcelain like a sheaf of rice paper.
I iterated on this idea to develop proportions, materials, and methodology. We wanted the chandelier to be as big as possible but were limited by the 30” diameter of a standard electric kiln.
We considered offsetting the discs to increase the overall diameter, as well as designs that incorporated multiple stacks together.
Material Exploration
Porcelain tends to warp and crack when drying. We discovered thinning the edges by hand achieved the client’s vision of “stacked rice paper” while maintaining structural durability.
Engineering
After consulting with our lighting engineer, Eric Beam, we decided a single stack of porcelain discs would be the most elegant solution.
A modular PCB and suspension system was selected for its ability to bear the weight of ceramic discs without visible hardware.
Prototyping
An interim design review informed refinements to the porcelain design. Reducing the amplitude of distortion tightened the layers and better concealed the light source.
Finished Product
Installation in The Future Perfect booth at Design Miami
Impact
Delivered in under four months—less than half the timeline quoted by comparable studios—establishing a new internal benchmark for engineering rigor and production quality at D’Haene Studio.
Featured as a key piece in the studio’s debut at Design Miami and covered by Design Milk and Art Centron, highlighting The Future Perfect’s booth.
Next Steps
The demand for the Strata Chandelier was incredible so we decided to offer table lamp variations. Based on the same principles, these expand on preferences and needs of high-end clientele.
Wafer thin porcelain discs are spaced along a single LED rod, mounted to a brass stand. A rotary dimmer is located at the base of the fixture.
