HB-AS sculpts lamps made of berea sandstone salvaged in ohio quarry

leibal and HB-AS present Berea Sandstone Lamps at nycxdesign

On the occasion of New York Design Week (NYCXDESIGN) 2024, minimalist design dealer and publication Leibal presents the platform’s first exclusive product collaboration originating from an Ohio quarry: the Berea Sandstone Lamps by San Francisco-based designers Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore. The design duo has worked together since 2017 as a multidisciplinary object creation studio, HB-AS, with a focus on furniture, products, and sculpture across various mediums.

image © Hank Beyer

how the collaboration unfolded

The launch of the collection coincides with the founding of the young studio. During their time as industrial design students at the University of Cincinnati, Beyer and Sizemore spent the summer of 2017 documenting and observing the operations of a family-owned quarry along the Berea sandstone formation in Northeastern Ohio. Out of an appreciation for the ancient beauty of these natural formations, the pair salvaged several discarded offcuts that would have otherwise been ground into aggregate and instead transformed them into a series of evocative lamps. The project caught the curatorial eye of Leibal founder Leo Lei, who promptly published the collection in 2017.

image © Hank Beyer

salvaging and cutting Berea sandstone in an ohio quarry

Now, seven years later, Leibal will debut an exclusive, 11-piece collection of HB-AS’s one-of-a-kind Berea sandstone lamps. After returning to the quarry this past winter, the designers spent a week on-site salvaging a dynamic collection of fragments to craft a series of lights informed by the industrial processes of mining and shaping sandstone. Over 350 million years, the Berea sandstone formation was gradually deposited by a river flow originating in Eastern Canada. Like the rings of a tree, each fine detail found within the stone tells a story of passing time. Clay, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and other mineral deposits initially carried by the river create distinguished and varied strokes of colors, marks, and patterns.

image © Hank Beyer

Additionally, the modern industrial processes of blasting, cutting, coring, and grinding produce dynamic forms and textures. Unfortunately, some of this variety renders the stone unusable for commercial purposes. The duo at HB-AS salvaged artifacts from both ancient and modern processes to create their sculptural luminaires. Each lamp is a collage of minimally modified parts, deliberately celebrating the unique origins of each sandstone piece. Leibal will display the Berea Sandstone Lamps collection during this year’s New York Design Week at 2 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002, from May 17th to 19th, 2024. For more information and to explore the collection online, visit the website.

image © Hank Beyer