Matter of Light

It may be intangible, but light has the ability to alter emotions, create depth, contrast, and interest in a space.

November 2, 2022

Carolyn Cartwright, founder of glass lighting company Cartwright NY, knows this better than most as a former film set decorator who worked with everyone from Spike Lee to Wes Anderson. “The light is a part of the storytelling,” Carolyn says. She brings this sensibility to her lighting designs now, always seeking warm, flattering light that pools and shifts in space.

Cartwright NY’s signature Otto Luce chandelier turns eight this year with a special rose gold edition. “I think of our lights as the jewelry of the room,” Carolyn says. Inspired by the original chandeliers made of suspended candelabras, Otto Luce’s eight lights shimmer, their rosy glass filled with champagne bubbles and gilded in gold foil for a cozy golden cast.

“The Otto Luce draws you in with its structure, then holds you in its glow,” Carolyn says.

In reflection and in shadow, the texture of light takes on a physical presence. Otto Luce becomes a being of its own, begging to radiate a warm glow. Up close we see the pinkish glow, the bubbling glass; its reflection multiplies its elegant magnetism. This is the Matter of Light.

Otto Luce’s light is warm and soft, but the fixture itself has a powerful simplicity. The fixture’s presence and the physicality of the light create a dichotomy of soft and strong.

cartwrightny.com

A version of this article originally appeared in Sixtysix Issue 09 with the headline “Matter of Light.” Subscribe today.