In the past, I have waxed rhapsodic about the old-fashioned incandescent light bulb. I love the iconic shape, I adore the visible filament, I celebrate the crystalline clarity-simply put, I cannot let it go. And many designers share my penchant for this glowing globe. Danish product and interior designer Rody Graumans commemorates the electric light bulb with his chandelier for Droog Design entitled 85 Lamps. Created in 1993 and already a design classic of the late twentieth century, 85 Lamps Chandelier can be found in the permanent collections of Centraal Museum (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, USA), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia), Neue Pinakothek Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum (Munich, Germany), Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein, Germany), and Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, USA).

85 Lamps Chandelier. Designed by Rody Graumans. Manufactured by Droog Design.

Iconic Wire and Bulb Chandelier

Like other Droog products, 85 Lamps Chandelier strips down design to its essential elements of form, function, and materials. Using only bulbs, wires, and connectors, 85 Lamps applies a reductive approach (not to be confused with austere) and then magnifies the effect through numbers: "By multiplying these essential elements an opulent chandelier is created. Less and more are united in a single product." At 23.6" in diameter and 39.4" in height, 85 Lamps creates a dramatic halo of luminosity. The glowing gold light juxtaposed against the stark black of the hanging wires gives the chandelier a simultaneously decorative and utilitarian flair.

About the Manufacturer: Droog Design, with offices in Amsterdam and New York, was co-founded by designer Gijs Bakker and design historian Renny Ramakers. The word Droog, meaning dry, suggests the firm's restrained aesthetic. Known for collaborating with designers such as Marcel Wanders, Hella Jongerius, and Richard Hutten, Droog offers "a selection of accessories, lighting, furniture and studio work that change your experience of daily life."