These Sculptural Lights Are Inspired by South African Trees
It's hardly unusual for a designer—or any creative, really—to be inspired by nature. But in the case of Durban, South Africa-based Clarisse Design, this inspiration is less a jumping-off point than a challenge around which an entire design process is built. French-born Xavier Clarisse creates sculptural pendants whose shapes mimic local vegetation—but in supple, sustainably-tanned leather.
"When I arrived in South Africa, I was totally taken by the beauty of the foliage of my surroundings, and also by the quality of the light that Durban has to offer in this subtropical climate," Clarisse explains. "This has stayed with me and is the inspiration for many of my designs and artworks."
After visiting a leather tannery in Zimbabwe, Clarisse recalls, he "connected the dots," and set about finding a way to translate the natural forms around him in leather. The result is a selection of leaf-shaped pendant lights with leather shades and metal details.
This spring, Clarisse made its U.S. debut through Ngala Trading, a company whose mission is bringing African design to audiences stateside (the brand carries everything from table linens and pillows by Ardmore to furniture made from porcupine quills). "When I saw these pendants in South Africa, I knew immediately we needed to track down the maker and introduce them in America,” says Ngala's cofounder and Creative Director Lawson Ricketts.
The maker is Xavier Clarisse, who founded his company after arriving in Durban from France. To create his unconventional designs, Clarisse first sketches the vegetation around him, making note of the shape of leaves as well as the way their forms (and imperfections) filter light. The Blade, for example, which is inspired by a bamboo leaf, features holes reminiscent of those that bugs would chew through a leaf in the wild. When punctuated into leather—which is then stained and coated—they create a kaleidoscope effect.
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With such a reverence for nature, it's little surprise that Clarisse's designs have sustainability at their core. The founder works with a leather tannery nearby that produces vegetable-tanned leather all from locally-sourced hides. "This ancient form of tanning is not polluting or harmful to those who do it," he explains. From a monastery in Durban that once printed bibles, Clarisse procured an assortment of vintage tools and a set of printing trays which he uses to imprint texture on the leather.
While the components of Clarisse's lights might seem unconventional—leather, metal, imprinting, lighting design—the designer sees these as elements that make up one "layered" product. "I think of my designs as layers," he says. "The layers are all the elements that come together to create a design. A layer could be made of your own story, your background, your inspiration, or your approach to material and technique."
After tanning, shaping, and imprinting the leather for his lights, Clarisse dyes it his preferred color, and then finishes it off with a metal closure. The entire process takes about a week per light. "It has to be precise," he says. "It takes time, and once you seal the leather, you cannot really go back."
Clarisse's unconventional process (or, what he calls, his "recipes") are the result of a lot of experimentation paired with an unwavering curiosity about his surroundings. "I surround myself with my inspirations, as I believe all the answers to my questions are in front of me," he says. "I just have to educate myself to see them."
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