Photo: Matthew Gordon; Brian W. Ferry; Joseph Kramm
In December, designers are offering some distinctive lighting for the season’s shorter days, such as artist James Cherry, who makes lamps from twigs, apples, and a material he creates out of scrap paper, fabric, and resin. Another artist (and sometime Christmas-tree salesman) uses foraged materials to embellish, well, everything, from an ice-cream scooper to a trash can. And one of the largest dispensaries in the Northeast opens with an interior that looks more like an Aimé Leon Dore store than any of the fluorescent-green weed bodegas near you.
Photo: Luke Gilford
Each light in “From Pollen,” James Cherry’s first solo show at TIWA Gallery, was conceived between his studio in Brooklyn and a cabin surrounded by redwoods during an artist residency at Salmon Creek Farm — a 1970s counterculture commune turned queer-centric arts program in Mendocino, California. Cherry’s lights pair materials foraged from the contrasting surroundings — twigs gathered from outside his cabin and Central Park, apple slivers, and recycled clay — with industrial emblems of the city, like steel and wood. The artist then wraps these architectural structures in a taut layer of a composite material he calls “makeshift fiberglass,” a honey-tinted mix of resin, recycled fabrics, and paper that hugs the lighting structure underneath like a second skin and glows warmly from within. Closes January 18.
Photo: Courtesy of TIWA Select and Jorge Tut, 2024
Photo: Courtesy of TIWA Select and Jorge Tut, 2024
Wood pendant lamps by Blue Green Works.
Photo: Matthew Gordon
Photo: Matthew Gordon Studio
In an ode to skateboarding ramps on Canal Street, Blue Green Works will debut a series of pendant lights inspired by the half-pipe at Time Again, a corner bar in Chinatown where the crowd frequently spills out onto Forsyth Street. The pendants’ exposed bulbs within the concave forms accentuate the rich oak and walnut grain of the material. “Wood Pendants” is an evolution of a sconce by the New York–based design studio, and the stackable lights can be configured in a mix of woods, sizes, and metal hardware. Before Peter B. Staples founded Blue Green Works during the pandemic, when he was building prototypes in his apartment, the self-taught designer had done branding and marketing work at the Future Perfect and Apparatus.
Find “Wood Pendants” online or at Time Again until January 2.
Wood sconce by Blue Green Works.
Photo: Matthew Gordon Studio
Photo: Brian W. Ferry
Times Square has seen its share of cannabis retail over the years, but nothing quite as grand as Charlie Fox’s three-story dispensary. Diagonal from the M&M’s store, the brand’s first shop is surprisingly cozy for 6,000 square feet. With a design led by Brooklyn-based Home Studios, the interior features cinnamon-toned floor-to-ceiling millwork and illuminated glass cabinetry, the studio’s take on old-world apothecaries. Roped wood adorns the walls, and the lighting is retro, ribbed glass sconces and fabric-tasseled pendants punctuating wood, stone, and concrete. You could shop for designer sunglasses or cannabis products in the store before reaching a marble-topped bar where “budtenders” offer appointments at what Charlie Fox co-founder James Mallios describes as “sommelier-level service.” Mallios is also behind midtown restaurant Marseille and the bar Juniper. The third floor, scheduled to open in the spring, will offer dining.
Photo: Brian W. Ferry
Photo: Brian W. Ferry
Photo: Joseph Kramm
Photo: Joseph Kramm
Generally, I’d advise against gifting can openers or dustpans to loved ones, but the gemstone-and-seashell-encrusted objects from Perfect Nothing Catalog are utilitarian treasures. The project Frank Traynor began over a decade ago plates mundane household items like box cutters and coat hangers in metal and covers them with embellishments of colored stones and seashells. These are not high-end jewels; the artist collects gravel from his brother’s driveway, finds minerals on Craigslist, and sources from “old-man shell dealers” in Los Angeles, where he lives. “Can Opener of Myself” is a more holiday-focused collection from the artist, who sometimes makes extra income carving pumpkins, selling Christmas trees, and making costumes for the Rockettes. Find “Can Opener of Myself” online or at Future Perfect until January 19.
Photo: Joseph Kramm
Dianne Brill in “Subjects: Biographies in Light” at Apparatus.
Photo: Matthew Placek
Apparatus’ collection of modular metal lights was initially released in 2014, but the New York–based studio decided to launch an expanded collection of the system with an accompanying exhibition focused on artists and design-industry figures like Justin Vivian Bond, Athena Calderone, and ’80s downtown “It”girl Dianne Brill talking about what compels them to create, among other topics. It’s the point of the new Cylinder System collection, artistic director Gabriel Hendifar says, to focus more on who or what is illuminated rather than just the products themselves. Starting this month and through January 17, visitors to the studio can see “Subjects: Biographies in Light,” which includes portraits and a short film shot by Matthew Placek and Dina Litovsky. In the exhibition, the tubular pendants and sconces are arranged in various configurations and theatrical settings; besides brass, bronze, and silver, there are leather and suede options. Closes January 17.
Photo: Dina Litovsky
Cylinder system.
Photo: Dina Litovsky
