Amphora - Contemporary Chandelier Company

Suspended like a luminous seed in a gilded husk, each ‘Amphora’ pendant holds light in a state of quiet tension, as though caught at the moment of becoming. A glowing, translucent glass heart is drawn into an elegant, elongated form, its surface wrapped with gentle striations that reveal the slow, deliberate movement of molten glass, now stilled and made eternal.

Encircling it, a slender frame of warm metal traces a protective, almost anatomical outline — part cocoon, part reliquary — guiding the eye along a vertical axis of perfect balance. The LED light within does not merely illuminate; it breathes, pooling softly through the translucent body and radiating outward with a golden, internal warmth.

The composition evokes both the botanical and the celestial: a pod about to unfurl, a droplet of sun held in orbit, a vessel of light suspended between earth and sky. Crafted by the Contemporary Chandelier Company, the piece transcends function to become an object of contemplation — a meditation on containment and release, on energy poised within form, and on the quiet drama of light given a sculptural soul.

We are both glassmakers and lighting designers; ‘Amphora’ is inspired from the desire to reinstate the traditional craft-based technique of hot glass to a utterly bespoke contemporary process rather than that of mass production. Each glass Amphora relies upon the skill of the glassmaker to create a defined symmetry, whilst dealing with the random thicknesses of thick applied trails embodied within the decorative process; to create a copy, whilst being unique.

Each individual light can be viewed as a singular bespoke object, each subtly different from the next. The laser-cut cast acrylic fins, enhanced with a luxurious gold or silver leaf texture, create focus , while cradling and directing the light source. This design is again offered in various colour palettes , shown here in both grey and silver, acid yellow and gold permutations. Also shown is a detail of a live-project wall light variation and a large bespoke arrangement installed at the British Embassy in Paris, using the silvered versions, that were a precursor to the translucent versions shown here.

All Amphora pendants are fully dimmable, with an measured output of  between 15 and 20 watts across the two sizes, small 445 mm and large at 560mm length.