If it’s the Peet’s coffee buzz talking, I apologize in advance. But upon first sight of the Mess table and floor lamps that designer Vasiliy Butenko just came up with, I’d have to say I’m speechless. At first I tried to convince myself it was the masterful use of photographic lighting that sets it apart from its background. Then I assured myself it was the white bricks (we all adore a good white brick wall, right?). But after scrolling through each of the images, I think the plain fact of the matter is: Butenko nailed it with this magnificent, little, tree-shaped light fixture.

Mess lamp. Designed by Vasiliy Butenko.

Skillfully Cut Sheet Aluminum Petals Create the Bursting Form of Vasiliy Butenko’s Mess Lamp

Looking forward to his next designs – especially after looking back at the content aesthetic of the Origami Chair that we featured just over a year ago – I have a good feeling about this Vasiliy Butenko. While sifting through images on his website his new table, entitled the Autumn table, appears to match the Mess lamp with its use of sheet metal, its dark color, and its decorative petal-like pieces that form the surface.

“I enjoy watching the elements created by nature,” begins Butenko’s description of his Mess lamp. “It would seem that form of an ordinary tree is chaotic, but it is not true. All forms in the nature are systematic chaos of too complex geometric shapes.”

“A man is able to reproduce in the object only a small part of the complicated geometry of this system. I took advantage of this principle while creating the lamp ‘Mess’. The challenge was to make an object with a messy form, but with strict structure, since without it the elements can not be assembled.” And that he did. After all of his hard work and time spent developing the end result, Butenko decided to create a framework in the petals and structure that is made entirely out of sheet aluminum, that he says “makes it lightweight and durable”.

Letting the geometric “petals” burst out from the crest of the Mess lamp, Butenko created what looks like an explosion of light without opting for a straight up white or even a semi-transparent look.

About the Designer: Vasiliy Butenko creates concept designs, furnishings, lighting, products and interiors that are of the clean and minimalist variety. While he typically works in solid colors of sheet aluminum and other solid materials, the precision of their shapes brings out a playful side in his brooding chairs, tables, light fixtures, and other works of fashionable art that stylize the modern individual or home.