Whether you live in a saltbox or a shoebox, the design firm Materia has a lamp for you.
More often than not, reworking a space requires new furniture. For designers, that challenge can prove its own creative prompt. “When we design a collection, a lot of the time, it’s in response to us renovating a house or a gallery,” says Megan Sommerville, co-owner of Materia studio, along with partner Matt Ensner. “All of a sudden we have this need for a room we’re making.” Super Thin Reading Lamp
This time around, Sommerville and Ensner were inspired by a move to and reworking of a home on the Farm Coast of Massachusetts, a life change that sparked the creation of a new lighting series called Plateau. The collection includes floor lamps and desk lamps and was designed to accommodate a wide range of interior environments. “There’s a lot of different scale in Massachusetts—these buildings from the 1700s have short ceilings, so it’s hard to do overhead lighting,” adds Sommerville. “We were thinking about that—we have lots of clients with different scaled spaces in Los Angeles and New York.” The pieces themselves, then, are remarkably versatile, with monumental floor lamps doubling as side tables.
Like all of Materia’s work, most of the materials used in the Plateau collection are sourced from makers in New England. It’s also inspired by the region’s seaside proximity, with brass components serving as a nod to nautical themes.
The collection is on view now at Materia’s showroom in New York, which opened in late 2019, but due to the pandemic, has only recently started hosting larger gatherings. The goal of the space was to contextualize the studio’s work in a domestic setting, so Sommerville’s own paintings hang on the walls and antiques are mixed in with the new works.
“So many people have never been here,” says Sommerville of the space’s start-and-stop opening. “It’s kind of a sleeping beauty.”
Helena Madden is ELLE DECOR’s associate market editor, and covers all things product and trend, from flatware and furnishings to kitchen and bath. She previously worked as a staff writer at Robb Report, where she covered luxury news with a focus on interior design.
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