lindsey adelman's drop lighting system balances hand-blown globes on brass tubes

‘with this series I wanted to strip down the visual vocabulary to its essence,’ says lindsey adelman of drop, a new lighting system comprised of custom brass tubing and hand-blown mini glass droplets. ‘I wanted to challenge myself to commit to a strict language: straight tubes and mold blown globes and find the wild, spirited drive through this process while playing with the forms,’ the designer continues. finished off with a verdigris patina created by hand with a mixture of salt and ammonia, the tube surfaces resemble the effect of natural phenomena such as lichen and algae.

all photos by lauren coleman

drop can be customized as a minimalist configuration or a more ‘drippy’, organic composition according to the client’s needs. ‘what I want to offer is pure industrial design that has the rigorous energy that went into it,’ adelman explains, ‘so the end-user can live with something that feels intended for them personally.’

‘as the work evolved I started to see it as the horizontal elements looking like sea level, and the dangling tubes below looking like sea weed beneath the surface with little bubbles,’ explains the designer, who will present the drop system during milan design week, and NYCxDESIGN later this year. 

adelman’s first independent exhibition, beyond the deep will be an immersive installation presented in collaboration with rachel and nick cope of calico wallpaper. the multi-room experience is set to create a dreamy world of sensual alchemy and decay, combining the mutual interest in corrosive chemical reactions on surfaces that adelman and calico’s new collections share.