Go for Crystal and Gold: Foscarini’s Caboche Lamp

When two excellent designers work together on a project, one of two things happens: a) they but heads like rams and generally fail to get along and furthermore fail to produce anything OR b) they put their heads together and succeed brilliantly. Such is the case with the splendorous Caboche Lamp, designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto for Foscarini. The Caboche Collection includes a suspension lamp, table lamp, floor lamp, and ceiling-mounted lamp.

Caboche Gold wall lamp. Designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto for Foscarini.

Each example sparkles like a bauble, which makes sense given that Urquiola’s original idea for Caboche was a 1930s-style bracelet—cheap, kitschy, something you might find in your grandma’s velvet-lined jewelry box. The lovely crystal balls that make up Caboche are individual polymetylmetacrylate spheres. In clear or gold, they shine like enchanted objects from fairy tales: little pieces of moonbeam or sunshine. But the globes get some help in the luminosity department from “a screen in white satinized blown glass” that “guarantees maximum diffusion of light and prevents glare.” The combination is dazzling. A chrome metal frame beneath gives Caboche its signature shape—without the decorative orbs, it looks remarkably like a sea urchin (Urquiola’s metaphor). In case Caboche is not fun enough for you quite yet, then let me describe the assembly of this glittering lamp. You will receive your Caboche (whatever fulgent incarnation, be it standing, hanging, or dangling) in a box holding all the little round gems separate from the ocean creature base. It is your job to attach each gleaming ball to the frame—with a satisfying snap. Urquiola thinks it’s like putting ornaments on a Christmas tree.

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Suspension lamp. Designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto for Foscarini.

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Ceiling lamp. Designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto for Foscarini.

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Media Floor lamp. Designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto for Foscarini.

The Caboche Suspension Lamp hangs by lambent threads: the thin wires appear spun by a slick spider. In three sizes, the Caboche Suspension Lamp offers a multitude of uses and can create resplendent lighting effects when grouped in luminous bunches. At the Hotel Nashville, a scintillating sextet of transparent lights swings from the lobby ceiling, trailing crystalline afterglow into the space. Caboche trios are asway at the Restaurant Sheher in the Serbian capital, casting a romantic radiance. Wherever you suspend them, the Caboche pendant lamps create an auroral splendor made even more magical by the connotations of treasures and trinkets.

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