Shawback Design Collaborations: Brightbound
The LH11 Pendent, Shawback Design, Signum Architecture, Knittel Construction, Cesar Rubio Photography
An organic round-shaped glass pendant from Brightbound dialogs with the over-scaled floral and foliate wallcovering in this powder room. The ethereal light fixture comprised of hand-blown glass, lathe-turned wood caps, with studio-machined metal components, represents a partnership between the West and East Coasts, along with the collaboration of a design studio and furniture manufacturer. Founded in 2018 by Shawback Design's Julie Savoia and Damon Savoia, along with their friends Nicole Cornell and Will Kavesh of the Brooklyn-based furniture company, Token, the two firms share similar values and aesthetics with different skill sets.
LH33 Helix Chandelier, Shawback Design, Field Architecture, Grassi & Associates, Photo: Matthew Millman
Each firm values craftsmanship and draws inspiration from the beauty of nature. At the same time, Shawback Design articulates a designer's needs while Token understands fabrication challenges, making their joint venture, Brightbound, unique. The motivation for Julie and Damon to start their lighting company came from the frustration of not finding the right fixture for their large-scale residential and hospitality projects in the Wine Country and beyond. They needed chandeliers made from individual components that could be configured into complex designs or distilled to a single pendant.
Nicole Cornell, Will Kavesh, Julie Savoia, and Damon Savoia at Brightbound Brooklyn
Through Shawback Design's partnership with Nicole and Will, they gained the expertise of a glass-blowing studio, wood shop, and metal shop. Artisans blow the glass forms by hand; domestic wood is hand-finished, and metals are machined using a combination of traditional and contemporary techniques. In Brightbound's quest for authentic materials, they expanded their collaborations to include rope knot artist Windy Chien. Her Helix knot resembles the decorative work of mariners during the Age of Discovery. With a hardwired canopy, turned wood cap, and studio-blown glass, Brightbound created the Helix series of chandeliers and pendants.
