Marco Piva’s Witch Suspension Lamp for manufacturer Leucos is a bit of an enigma. Especially when looking at it through the 2-D confines of the web, the piece is somewhat inscrutable—it’s difficult to tell what is “in” and what is “out.” This is doubtless intentional, especially with a name like “Witch,” not to mention a motley materials palette of hand-blown glass, black-painted metal on black glass, and chrome-plated metal on a mirrored white or grey diffuser. As is to be expected, the signature black version thrives on this confusion between inside and out, between the subtle obfuscations of translucency and the prestidigitation of smoky glass.

Witch Pendant Lamp. Designed by Marco Piva for Leucos.

The Elegance of Suspension

Yes, Leucos’ black Witch might evoke childhood nightmares of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, who certainly must have donned a black hat in one incarnation or another. Yet Leucos’ Witch is a bit of a revisionist take on that arcane item of haberdashery, the base of the hat having widened into a spacious globe, the tip spindling out into a less-threatening point. But the connection is there, no doubt, even as Witch’s mysterious interior problematizes the comparison: the black diffuser houses a blown glass center—pulsating red with the life of a fire’s crucial ember, or a heart’s life blood.

This formula repeats itself among Witch’s multiple versions, each of which might be characterized—following the cue of Oz—as a species of good witch. Though, in truth, they too intimate some degree of mystery or, perhaps, nefarious intent. The chromed version reminds me of the dangerous beauty of thin ice, while the gray and white models suggest the dual nature of winter weather, certainly apropos with much of the nation in the grip of a fearsome storm of wind and ice. With Witch, you can have a similar feast for the eyes from the comfort of your living room.

Via Otto-Otto.