Mathieu Lehanneur's LED Chandelier Swaps Opulence For Minimalist Design

Just because it's an historic building, doesn't mean to say you can't update it with some contemporary design. French designer Mathieu Lehanneur's—who designed the WikiBar—chandelier Les Cordes was made for a chateau in Marseille, and is created from LEDs that seem to loop in and out of view.

The opulence of a traditional crystal chandelier is stripped back, but it makes Lehanneur's creation no less stunning. It was designed to look like a piece of LED rope snaking through the ceiling, as Lehanneur explains: "This chandelier was conceived as a rope of light crossing the ceiling, only bands of light and glass are visible. It is not an object. It is not a light fitting. It is the light itself that seems to live and circulate in the entrance space, as if stitched onto the building itself."

The minimalist, modern design sits in contrast with the splendor of the 18th century Château Borély—which houses the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, de la Faïence et de la Mode (Museum of Decorative Arts, Earthenware and Fashion)—as tubes of glass containing the LEDs rupture from beneath a mezzanine in the château's entrance hall.

For another modern interpretation of a traditional chandelier set in Baroque surroundings, check out our video of Studio Roso's Palace Chandelier below…

[via Inhabitat]

Images © Vincent Duault

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