New York-based designer Steven Gambrel's new 14-piece collection for the Urban Electric Co. is a hybrid of aesthetics. The visible hardware, along with the sheer scale of each piece, is a nod to utilitarian industrial design, the kind found aboard ships or inside factories. Gambrel's Boxbridge lamp, twin cylindrical lanterns encased in a metal framework, for example, is three feet wide and weighs in at 125 pounds. And the 17-inch-long glass orb of his hanging Grayfox lamp, inspired by giant laboratory bell jars, was a challenge to the resident glassblower at Urban Electric, where everything is crafted by hand.
Despite their girth, his pieces look more sophisticated than gritty. There are no rough edges here, only polished exteriors with elegant sheens. But like their industrial inspirations, each lamp eschews extraneous embellishments. The small details, like the baroque clasps and elaborate joinery, exist strictly to fulfill a function — although they also add a nice touch.