Contemporary LED Wall Sconce for Hotels

The advent of small LED’s that require low gauge wires and the efficiency of these low voltage bright lights has made it possible for us to tailor our door handle designs to fit the custom light market.  The Morphic cylindrical door pull is the first piece that we have adapted from being a door handle to a wall sconce. It’s very close cousin the 16” door handle has been re-tooled so that it now functions as a discreet but intriguing wall sconce.

When is a handle a wall sconce?

Iluminated Door Handles

The simple answer is when it is hanging on a wall or along a corridor to create patterns of light that will add mood or atmosphere to a room or corridor. The Morphic sconce is available through design professionals and offered either in a brushed stainless steel or in an oil rubbed bronze. This UL listed luminaire at present is offered with a single color LED small spot and can be ordered with a red, blue, green or white light. Who knows maybe a boutique hotel will use the different colors to help their guests remember which floor their room is on, this certainly would take the stress out of finding your room after a long day trudging the halls of a Vegas trade show.

Soon we will be offering this piece with a color changing spot and then our designer clientele can really have fun pairing the mood of each floor or room function with the color of the LED. I can see it will not be long before soft amber shades come to be associated with the bar lounge with pale aqua tones create a soothing welcome to the sauna.

Since boutique hotels need to periodically freshen their appearance we hope our color changing luminaires can provide a cost effective option.

Lighting options--Wall sconces

Residential and hospitality designers alike know the power of a good lighting plan for interior spaces.  Accent lighting is equally as important to a room as ambient and task lighting and can be achieved using various types of lighting fixtures.  One such fixture is a wall sconce. A sconce is defined as "a candle holder, or a holder of another light source, that is attached to a wall with an ornamental bracket."  Wall sconces are intended for use as accent lighting although certain circumstances may call for sconces to act as task lighting.  They are often hung along a hallway or flanking a fireplace mantel, headboard, bathroom mirror or a beautiful picture window.  Like our custom wall sconces, the designs often cast an interesting pattern onto the wall and offer soft illumination to any space.

We recently ventured into the world of lighting design when we introduced our new wall sconce designs at the 2015 HD Expo in Las Vegas this past May.  As we have mentioned in previous posts, we are big fans of "Game of Thrones" and that is evident in the details and design of our Dragon Egg wall sconce.

Along with the stylized back plate and finial, perforations meant to mimic the membrane that lines an egg allow the light to shine through.

In this photo, traditionally styled wall sconces line a hallway and offer illumination as well as an interesting design element.

Traditional Hall by Atlanta Architects & Building Designers Kemp Hall Studio

And this very contemporary wall sconce in a home in Melbourne Australia offers soft lighting in an art form.

Contemporary Bedroom by Melbourne Interior Designers & Decorators Sally Caroline

Another pair of artfully design wall sconces help make this fireplace the focal point of the room.

Contemporary Living Room by Los Angeles Interior Designers & Decorators Burnham Design

To view our entire collection of lighting and architectural hardware, please visit our site at www.martinpierce.com.

Designers can visit the showroom located at:

5433 W. Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca  90016

323 939 5929

Biophilia and biomorphism in interior design

We were so interested in the concept of biophilia design that we were introduced to at this years HD Expo and we shared our newfound knowledge and our new dragon egg wall sconce with a design that echoes this idea in a post here.

But the whole idea of furniture and "functional art" created in shapes inspired by nature and organic elements is an interesting one that I discovered has really been around since the mid -twentieth century  in a movement called biomorphism which  Wikipedia defines as:

Biomorphism is an art movement that began in the 20th century. It models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms

Once you become aware of this artistic endeavor it can be easy to spot examples in the design of furniture, lighting, textiles and even in architecture.  For example:

This unique chair designed by Marc Newson and available through Christie's  auctions is designed to showcase the beauty of the wood and actually looks very comfortable.

Biomorphism can be easily translated into fiber and textile art as seen in this organically shaped, woven wall hanging  crafted of natural materials such as pine needles by artist Patti Chamberlin.

Biomorphism finds its place in architecture with the innovative design of the Selfridge's Department Store in Birmingham, UK, designed by Future Systems in which straight edges normally used in architecture have been replaced with more biomorphic rounded edges.  Also appreciate the juxtaposition of old meets new with this modern building sitting right next door to an old church.

Many of our own bespoke furniture and custom hardware designs reflect elements of biomorphism as well.  Martin has long been inspired by the shapes and movements found in nature, particularly in plants, birds, insects and other creatures and this is evident in the designs he creates.  For example, the rectangular dining room table from our Hedgerow collection with table legs and apron featuring the naturally occuring marks and shapes of a tree.

If you are interested in discussing a custom design for your hospitality design project or would like to view our entire collection of architectural hardware, please visit our site at www.martinpierce.com.

Designers can visit the showroom located at:

5433 W. Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca  90016

323 939 5929

Biophilia and interior design

One of the true highlights of the 2015 HD Expo this year was the time we spent and the very enlightening conversation we had with artist Ted Morrison.  A visit to his website will be worth your time. Ted introduced us to the concept of biophilia, defined by Wikipedia as:

“means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital.^[3] Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with other life forms and nature as a whole are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward organisms, species, habitats, processes and objects in their natural surroundings.

This is such an interesting concept especially in the way it pertains to the arts.  This idea can certainly guide and inspire future designs as we begin to better understand the way our clients are drawn to the "things" that appear in their natural surroundings including plants, creatures, animal and insect habitats etc.  In truth, Martin has always been interested in studying the habitats of the subjects of some of his designs and we have shared some of our trips to the local mountains to locate these habitats with you.

During the Expo Ted attended a round table seminar where designers and show attendees discussed how, on its simplest level, biophilia offers an explanation as to why curved and fluid shapes are more pleasing to people and more relaxing, if you will, than straight- edged pieces.  He returned to our booth after the lecture and commented that we must be “ahead of the curve” as the Morphic and Ergo designs were inherently “biophiliac designs”. While the compliment was well received, both Martin and I pay tribute to the Art Nouveau movement for much of our design inspiration and think this  period was perhaps the most biophiliac movement we have seen in centuries.

One of our new designs attracted a lot of attention at the HD Expo, our new Dragon Egg sconce, and with its membrane like cutout pattern certainly falls into the biophiliac category.

To view these items as well as our entire collection of architectural hardware, please visit our site at www.martinpierce.com.

Designers can visit the showroom located at:

5433 W. Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA  90016

323 939 5929

Light up your walls with our new floral sconce

There is no reason wall lighting needs to be strictly functional or have a utilitarian appearance.  We believe that wall hung lanterns can be stylish and beautiful while providing ambient or task lighting. Our new floral sconce meets all this criteria.  It will certainly cast a warm glow throughout the room and is just as beautiful during the day as it is in the evening when the bulb shines through.

The openwork design of this wall sconce was inspired in large part by our trip to  Granada. last year.  It consists of a series of interlocking leaves similar to a type of plant  we saw quite often as a garden shrub in the Albayzin  quarter of Granada.  The sconce also has a Moorish quality particularly in the cap of the lamp, inspired, no doubt, on some subliminal level by our visit to the Alhambra.

It is lit with a small LED light that casts intriguing shadows on the wall.  We will be moving on to the task of NRTL ( Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories) approval within the next few months.

The Floral lamp measures:

Diameter 5"

Depth 7" from wall to Outer edge

Height 16  1/2"

and will be available in bronze as shown and also in steel.

We will be debuting this wall sconce at the upcoming 2015 HD Expo so be sure and stop by our booth #2277 for an in-depth look at this stunning light fixture.

You can view our entire collection of architectural hardware at www.martinpierce.com.

Designers can visit the showroom located at:

5433 W. Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA  90016

323 939 5929