Rux, a multidisciplinary design firm in New York, has unveiled new pieces in its Stickbulb line of modular contemporary lighting. The X Collection features a chandelier and side table constructed of sustainable wood and hardware made of polished or matte cast brass. The pieces are inlaid with strips of LEDs that range from one to six feet. Stickbulb gets its name from the brand’s earlier designs, which essentially were wood strips with bulbs. The new pieces are more complex. The chandelier and table consist of octahedronal modules that can be laid out horizontally or stacked vertically. A module can also stand alone.
“Architectural forms as big as rooms or as small as side tables can be created from the same basic parts,” said Stickbulb co-founder Chris Beardsley. “There is magic in the system’s simplicity and its ability to scale in size.” The table is also a first for Stickbulb, which until now has focused exclusively on chandeliers, lamps and sconces. “The X Collection begins to blur the line between lightning and furniture,” said the firm.
Stickbulb is an offshoot of Rux, a design firm founded in 2008 by Beardsley and Russell Greenberg, who both studied architecture at Yale. Prior to launching their studio, Beardsley worked for Flank, a New York firm that offers design and real-estate services, and Greenberg worked at Studio Dror. The duo started the Stickbulb brand in 2012. “It is every architect’s dream to build with light,” said Beardsley. “Stickbulb takes this aspiration literally and offers a scalable system of sustainable and energy-efficient lamps.”
All Stickbulb products are made in New York using reclaimed or sustainably sourced wood. Options include maple and walnut, along with southern yellow pine from demolished New York buildings and ipe from old boardwalks in Coney Island and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Parts of the new chandelier and table are purposefully left distressed.
Photography by Will Covintree