Designed by Danish husband-and-wife designers Viola Heyn-Johnsen and Jonas Trampedach, the Parade Table Lamp series was inspired by the desire to create an ambient light source with a sculptural quality. The name refers to the lamp’s ability to invite attention when several lamps are positioned together. The square lines fit together in a tessellated pattern, like a formation in a parade. The glass geometric shape is made in carefully selected sizes and colours, designed to complement each other in height, tone and temperature, thereby creating a cohesive effect.
We visited Viola and Jonas in their Copenhagen home to learn about their inspiration and creation process.
What was the design process behind Parade?
Viola and Jonas: Parade is our first joint project. Design already takes up a lot of space in both of our everyday lives, so it was only natural to do a project together and see if we could connect our different approaches to design. The catalyst for the project was a collection of coloured-glass objects from the interwar period that we have had at home for years. The objects have no other function than their great sculptural value, and we have never grown tired of looking at them. With Parade, we wanted to create a lamp that could give us, and hopefully others, the same lasting experience. Like the coloured glass pieces, Parade also fits beautifully on a shelf, and we think it can be used in nice vignettes or still life scenes with other items you already own – artwork, something you once found, and a Parade Lamp.
Early in the process, we involved Mette Hay in the project, and the finished lamps are the result of a close collaboration with HAY.
How did you intend for Parade to be used, and how should someone using it feel?
Viola and Jonas: We designed Parade hoping to create an ambient light source with sculptural value. We think we have succeeded in a form that is appealing, and that works both alone and in a group. The lamp’s brightness can be adjusted to provide more functional lighting, as well. We hope these lamps will be used in a range of versatile ways, as they are intended: a collection of luminous sculptures on the shelf, as a standalone bedside lamp or an object arranged with other favourite objects, or as a personal still life.
How would you describe Parade’s aesthetic?
Viola and Jonas: The geometry of Parade: the body of the lamp consists of a top (arc) and a bottom (square), the top being oriented diagonally to the bottom. The square makes tessellation possible, and the arc changes the experience of the shape depending on which way the lamp turns.
When several lamps stand together and you look at them from above, they fit into each other in a pattern of squares. The lamp's three different heights allow you to create a pattern of arches and points when you look at them from the side. This helps to make Parade interesting to arrange.
The special thing about using coloured glass for lighting is that it must work when the lamp is on and when it is off. The three colours – Shell, Moss and Blush – are all selected based on that criterion. They are adapted to each other in temperature and tone, so that in a group they will appear as different individuals from the same family, both with and without light.
Looking at the lamp when it's off, one will often see a reflection of light in the top of the lamp – the arc easily captures a reflection. This subtly emphasises the geometry, and is in our view the understated quality of Parade.
