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This ugly duckling turned into a beautiful pendant. Photo: Apartment Therapy
When I first saw South African designer Haldane Martin's home tour on Apartment Therapy, I thought he had fallen victim to a toilet-papering prank. After all, what else could be hanging from that gorgeous white planked ceiling in such a nonchalant fashion? However, upon closer inspection, a second glance revealed the source of this immaculate lighting -- ostrich feathers. I hunted down Haldane Martin to ask just what his reasoning was for flipping the bird to a traditional pendant...
"A few months ago, while walking with my three year old son Gabriel in the field, we came across some dandelions," Haldane says. "I was touched by his innocence and joy at simply blowing the seeds from these dandelions [and] wanted to make a light that captured the lightness and form of a dandelion. A month or two later I was mountain biking in a game reserve, when I came across a few white ostrich feathers. A light bulb went on – here was the perfect natural diffuser, with the similar airy quality as the dandelion seeds!"
From there Haldane's natural design sense set in. Because feathers are a byproduct of the lucrative ostrich hide export industry in South Africa, Haldane chose to keep the production local in hopes of boosting the nation's employment. "It is my duty as a designer to add value to local materials before they are exported," he says.
Go on -- ruffle some feathers. Photo: Apartment Therapy
Beautiful, socially-conscience and innovative. What's not to love? Proof that a bird in the hand is worth one heck of a chandelier.
To find other unique lighting spotted by your fave ShelterPop staffers, read more:
-Wire Lamp Shades, Live From Scandinavia
-High vs. Low: Capiz Lamps
-Hemp Pendant Lamps from CraftyNest.com
Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)
Is there a place to buy these? I might be in love with it.
ReplyOh great, killing animals for chandeliers now. Why don't we just start building our houses out of the corpses of abandoned puppies and kittens at overpopulated animal shelters? It would be so chic and upper class.
ReplyWow, that's not at ALL overdramatic. If you'd READ the article, you'd have learned that the designer used feathers that were the byproduct--i.e. waste--from the ostrich hide industry. No bird was harmed in the making of this. At least they weren't wasted. If you want to stop things like this from happening, try being proactive and DO SOMETHING about ostrich feather lighting instead of being passive-aggressive on the internet. It's just sad.