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"I read a lot of colour theory by painters like Amy Sillman, Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky and looked at a lot of art, birds and fruit for inspiration," shares Brooklyn-based architectural designer Ford Bostwick, revealing the research process for his debut lighting design collection. Unveiled between May 17 - 19, 2025, at Shelter by Afternoon Light, a three-day design fair in New York, United States, during NYCxDESIGN 2025, the series cleverly utilises principles of colour theory to craft wall sconces and floor lamps. Made from folded steel sheets, the contemporary designs explore how colour, light and space interact with and complement one another.
Bostwick draws from his multidisciplinary experience and works at the intersection of architecture and art to create his furniture designs. "My architecture background taught me to seek balance across every aspect of design—the program or function, structure, materiality, construction method, budget, site conditions, cultural context—ensuring everything works in harmony. Working in sculpture deepened my understanding of materials, fabrication techniques and designing at a human scale," the furniture designer tells STIR.
With a background in architecture and sculpture, Bostwick largely crafts furniture using stainless steel and wood. "Last winter, I started thinking about lighting, slowly mulling over different ideas. A lot of what I saw was essentially a lightbulb holder and not really designed to affect light. One day, the concept for the sconce just popped into my head pretty much fully formed: two nested, shallow, bent steel pans of different colours, with light emitting between them," the lighting designer says.
To achieve a balance between functionality and aesthetics, the American designer spent four months engineering and refining the designs to essential forms, ultimately highlighting the materiality and reducing production costs. He treats the Mira wall sconce as a small painting, introducing a variety of colours that coat the thin steel and acrylic surfaces, ensuring the light fixture maintains a strong visual presence in a space, regardless of being illuminated. Available in two size variants, the sconces also offer bespoke colours and customisation options.
The Lucy floor lamp portrays a sleek, elegant form with an industrial character, utilising two bent steel surfaces, bolted together to insert an LED strip, resulting in an interesting interplay between light and shadow. When unlit, the lamp design acts as a sculpture, establishing a dialogue with the wall sconce. Lucy, intended to be a modular design, can be stacked vertically or horizontally to fit the needs of a space. "The system can be configured as a tower, room divider, wall feature, wall-mounted sconce or ceiling-suspended pendant," states the project's press release.
Colours are central to his new sculptural designs, which is a first for Bostwick, as his previous work, such as the X x X chair (2023) and the Domino table (2022), prioritised the inherent properties and aesthetics of materials. At the onset of designing the illuminating objects, Bostwick takes the opportunity to experiment with pigments, exploring spatial relationships from a different perspective.
When inquired about the story behind naming the product designs, Bostwick tells STIR, "I often give objects human names to maintain a distinct character and spirit within a highly engineered piece. Lucy refers to both 'luz' (Spanish for 'light') and a 'loosey' cigarette—two-toned, linear and suggesting a system made up of many possible repeating parts. Mira evokes mirrors and mirages—reflected light and optical tricks that play with perception."
Using vibrant colours—often associated with playful, organic forms—for the industrial designs, the objects become adaptable artworks that complement any space. Precise construction and minimal design are essential in giving the pieces their sleek appearance, foregrounding Bostwick's dedication in capturing the essence of the materials and highlighting their properties. The new lighting collection opens new design avenues for Bostwick, allowing him to draw on his experience while experimenting with various concepts.
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