‘Wood Touched by Light’: The Complete LZF Oeuvre

May 10, 2017. Published by lzf-lamps

LZF‘s new catalogue tells the story of an innovatory brand whose wood veneer lamps cleverly envelop light, wrapping it in a series of imaginative, bright and aesthetic designs. A hefty hardback tome—weighing in at almost three kilograms and numbering nearly 600 pages—this oeuvre documents LZF’s life’s work, from 1994 to the present day.

The best stories often begin when two strangers come together, resulting in a spark, a connection and a yearning to explore. The year was 1993, and a painter and musician would meet in Spain: she was Mariví Calvo, a painter returning to Spain from New York, and he was Sandro Tothill, an Australian musician on a quest to discover Spain. Together, they shared a passion for creativity, ideas and experimenting. It was this passion that led to starting LZF when on one auspicious night, while playing with wood veneers, Mariví and Sandro succeeded in enveloping light. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The LZF catalogue describes a love affair with wood, light, creativity, craftsmanship and design. A testament to Mariví and Sandro’s vision, the book is a visual triumph of wood veneer’s possibilities. Page after page, LZF’s handmade lamps are presented across an array of settings, from the sublime to the surreal. Lifelike and vivid, the lamps jump from the pages, caressing the eye and exciting the imagination. Indeed, one’s fingers are drawn to tracing the contours and lines of each and every handsome luminaire. Throughout the catalogue, LZF’s ability to communicate the human relationship between emotion and light is obvious. A series of evocative, expressive and stirring personal vignettes work to convey feeling, thought and sentiment, offering a view on light’s intrinsic role in everyday moments: cleverly, the reader is left to unravel the untold story. This human element is a distinguishing feature of LZF.

LZF has built an international reputation for describing light through experiences. Typically avant-garde, LZF approaches every endeavour with fervour, eloquence, assiduousness and a sense of humour. The same principles are applied to its new catalogue: as well as the rich body of images, Spanish writer Grassa Toro’s fanciful conversations and reflections punctuate the book, written in his usual fantastical manner.

LZF’s catalogue confidently expresses the brand’s personality and character. Moreover, it embraces the insights and imaginings of those who have been a part of the journey: the designers, craftsmen, engineers and architects, to name but a few. It is doubtless a book to behold.