Composed through shadow and mass
Counterweighted pendant in cast iron, mahogany, walnut and white oak veneers, and steel hardware. Designed as a study in shadow, balance, and atmospheric illumination. As well as an exploration of the iron casting process and pattern-board construction.
Lighting as Architectural Jewelry
Penumbra investigates the relationship between shadow and suspended equilibrium through an exposed counterweight system. Drawing from celestial-adjacent visual language and industrial mechanics, the piece balances visual mass with atmospheric illumination to create a quiet architectural presence.
Process: Ideation
Form Exploration
Early tests began with sketches and sketch models for the counterweights.
Fabrication: Pattern Board
Pattern pieces for Penumbra’s castings were completed using Maple and Ash hardwood in split turnings
Pattern Piece 01: Canopy
Canopy turned out of ash.
The blank was turned in one piece according to orthographic drawings accounting for the placement and dimensions of fasteners and hardware.
There is a rabbet included in order to facilitate the piece being inset to the pattern board, which optimizes the plumbing and reduces the need for post-processing.
Pattern Piece 02: Second Ceiling Attachment
Attachment piece turned out of Ash.
This piece was turned as a split turning to allow for registration onto the pattern board’s cope and drag.
Pattern Piece 03: Counterweight
The counterweight was a scaled-up version of the early form tests, also made into a split turning for registration purposes.
Final Pattern Boards
Board utilizing cores
Drag side pictured. Pattern piece is inset and plumbing is on the cope of the board.
Cope side pictured
Straight-pull board
Fabrication: Casting Post-processing
Post-processing involved chasing and grinding to clean up the gating, parting line, and flash on the castings.
Later the castings were drilled and tapped for the necessary fasteners to get the pieces mounted on a ceiling.
Lastly, the iron was darkened with stovetop polish and finished with paste wax.
Penumbra centers materiality. Solid mahogany introduces softness and tactility against the visual weight of blackened metal, creating a dialogue between warmth and mass, shadow and glow.
The exposed balancing mechanism remains intentionally visible, transforming functional movement into the defining architectural language of the piece.
Like bodies suspended in orbit, Penumbra appears simultaneously grounded and weightless. The form is restrained, atmospheric, and materially honest--drawing from industrial processes and celestial geometry.
Designed for interiors that value permanence, proportion, and quiet presence, existing between lighting and sculpture.