At this year s Salone del Mobile in Milan, Preciosa Lighting is presenting a new pendant by Amsterdam-based designer Frank Tjepkema. The raindrop shaped light is a work of art, hanging gracefully like a beautiful necklace. Glass and metal are the only two materials Mr. Tjepkema needed to bring this treasure to life.
-Glass in order to suggest pearls is a perfect match,- he said. -The metal parts are designed in such a way that the whole piece emulates the quality and detail of jewellery.
Looking at the range of Mr. Tjepkema s work, you can see he is definitely a contemporary designer. But inspiration for Pearl Drop actually came from history. Mr. Tjepkema explained that while researching historical chandeliers on antique paintings, he found himself more enamoured with the jewellery worn by the women in the paintings than the chandeliers themselves.
‘I conceived Pearl Drop for Preciosa as jewellery for a space.’
The inspiration for Pearl Drop literally came from the 15th century painting.
‘I realised they had repetition and were often made of noble materials, but even more striking was the fact that jewellery and chandeliers serve the same purpose on different scales: the epiphany of ornament in its purest form.’
Mr. Tjepkema even knows the exact painting that moved him to design Pearl Drop.
‘The inspiration for Pearl Drop literally came from the 15th century painting -Woman Reading a Letter- by Gerard ter Borch,- he said. -I was captured by the relationship between the chandelier and the jewellery the woman reading the letter is wearing.’
