Falling Glass

One of the more ambitious lighting installations we have tackled was completed this spring in the “Island Retreat” project. We had a lofty living and dining area which had some great artwork and furniture, all laying at eye-level and below. While the room has plenty of light, it just didn’t draw your eye up. We played with a few lighting design layouts above the dining table in attempt to fill the space, but nothing seemed to fit properly.

Nothing, that is, until we chanced upon the 28 series of lighting by Bocci. We have used Omer Arble’s Bocci fixtures in previous projects (the 14 series is great for a simple, understated lighting punch), but never had the opportunity to play with as much volume and colour range as the 28 series allowed for.

Our design began with some rough sketches and colour ideas. It soon became apparent that paper alone would not be enough, nor was the 3D computer model we were using to get a feel for the layout. We needed to go full-sized. We bought out the local supply of 6″ and 8″ foam balls (our apologies go out to all you crafters who went looking for large balls) and cut out a dining-table sized piece of foam-core.

Armed with tacks, a custom-colour chart from Bocci, string, ladders and a cleared-out office space, we set up a full-scale light installation.

After a couple of days of walking around this dangling array of spheres with our client, we decided it was ready for ordering. Each drop was numbered and a detailed installation guide was drawn up showing the location, colour and height of each glass ball. This guide went to Chris Rothery from OnlyHuman, our local Bocci dealer.

A few weeks later, the boxed lights arrived on-site and the installation began. Our electrical contractors had been working hard to get the wiring in place and once the last few glitches were ironed out we got to work with the nervous task of hanging 22 hand-blown glass globes.

The effort from all parties involved paid off. We were thrilled to see the final result!

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