Dane Anne Romme and Tatar Fiyel Levent met at The Cooper Union architecture school, where they were researching “two very distinct subjects: architectural Islamic patterning and the sculptural screens of Erwin Hauer.” Since graduating, the pair has begun Levent and Romme, a company that reinvigorates ornamentation. Levent and Romme’s furniture and lamps employ light, so that the pieces (and the rooms they populate) glow.

Floor Lamp. Designed by Dane Anne Romme and Tatar Fiyel Levent of Levent and Romme.

Using a combination of intricate hand-drawn designs and digital technology allows Levent and Romme the best of both worlds: traditional embellishments come alive through computerized milling machines. What they ultimately come up with is “simple but still experimental.” At BKLYN DESIGNS 2009, Levent and Romme will exhibit “very delicate lamps made from paper,” whose precision-carved lines allow the light to dance. Circles, lines, and arcs transform the incandescence into glimmering jewelry, casting prismatic shadows. A more substantial Coffee Table made from Corian also manipulates pattern to generate scintillating gleams. This piece is truly reminiscent of Erwin Hauer’s wall screens; both use geometric designs cut into white expanses, lending otherwise opaque material an unexpected sheer quality. “Wall dividers made from polyethylene sheets salvaged from a plastics lumber yard in Pennsylvania” accomplish much the same effect.

Wall Divider. Designed by Dane Anne Romme and Tatar Fiyel Levent of Levent and Romme.

Coffee Table. Designed by Dane Anne Romme and Tatar Fiyel Levent of Levent and Romme.

Bed. Designed by Dane Anne Romme and Tatar Fiyel Levent of Levent and Romme.

But it is Levent and Romme’s bed that may steal the show. The ornamental headboard and solid base play off one another, stressing the dynamic kineticism between the diaphanous etchings above and the substantial pedestal below. Like something out of Arabian Nights, the gossamery tracings mimic the night sky pierced by eager stars. Perhaps it is Levent and Romme’s ancestry that forges such a strong manipulation of pattern and light: the Danish luminosity of perpetual white winterscapes mixed with the Eastern gloom of exotic Ottoman empires work against each other to forge a beautiful tension.