Blue Green Works Casts Baroque Codes Into Contemporary Lighting

With Garden, Blue Green Works’ new seven-piece lighting collection, founder and creative director Peter B. Staples not only translates Baroque codes into contemporary Murano glass; he also crafts an expressive, autobiographical series. Aesthetically, the chandeliers and pendants plant clear glass feathers and leafs within mirrored steel and brass structures. Through these delicate natural references, Staples channels the tenderness he felt during a period of loss.

“This collection was different for me,” the designer tells Surface. “I was fragile throughout the process and being in Venice, working with these glass masters, was such an immediate experience. I think that allowed us to capture that energy in the work. There is maybe more urgency to it, but it also has some solid footing, which I think is what I was looking for, some solace.”

Staples worked directly with tenured Murano maestros, each with their own glassblowing furnace. Through their collaboration, a calibrated system was developed to emphasize the weightless identity of the leaves and feathers, which seemingly drift. A sense of organic authenticity is born from a precise variation in length and orientation. All of it stems from Staples’ discipline. “I wanted to create something that was heartbreaking,” adds Staples, “In the end, it feels that way to me because I was heartbroken during this process.”