Faceted Brass and Glass Pendant Light from Marrakech

Look at where the panels meet. Every seam is a soldered brass edge holding two pieces of glass at an angle, and there are more than twenty of them, pentagons and hexagons fitted into a sphere that has no repeating face. The metalworker builds the frame in the air, one facet at a time, checking the curve by eye as it closes. Clear glass means nothing is hidden you see the three brass candle sockets on their central stem, you see the filaments, and the light comes through undiffused. Against a white wall it reads as a brass drawing. Switched on at night, the seams throw thin lines across the ceiling.

What Makes It

• Over twenty facets, no two the same shape the sphere is built from pentagons and hexagons cut individually, which is why the frame closes without a visible seam line running around it.
• Clear glass, not frosted the fixture doesn't soften the bulb, it frames it. Choose warm filament bulbs; anything cold will read harsh through clear panes.
• Three-light cluster on a central brass stem brighter than a single-bulb pendant of the same size, and the three sources cross-light the frame so the brass edges catch from every angle.
• Solder joints left visible the fine brass line at each seam is structural. It's how you tell a hand-built frame from a cast one, where the joins are smoothed away.
• Chain suspension, adjustable: chain length supplied, and whether it can be shortened at install.

The Craft

A spherical frame is the hardest thing to build in this trade. Flat lanterns forgive a millimetre of error; a sphere doesn't, because the mistake compounds around the curve and the last facet won't close. The metalworker cuts brass strip, shapes each cell, and solders it to the ones already standing, working outward from the top ring with nothing holding the form but the joints already made. Glass goes in after, cut to the openings that exist rather than the other way round. In Marrakech, a man works flat frames for years before anyone hands him a sphere.

Details

• Material: Solid brass frame, clear glass panels
• Technique: Hand-cut and soldered brass frame, hand-fitted glass
• Origin: Marrakech, Morocco
• Finish: lacquered or raw brass
• Time to make: 7 days

Care

Dry soft cloth on the brass. Glass cleans with a barely damp cloth keep liquid off the solder seams. No abrasive cleaner and no polish on the joints.

What's Included

• One faceted brass and glass pendant
• Origin Passport card with QR code the metalworker's name, his workshop location in Marrakech, and photographs of the frame being soldered
• DHL /FEDEX/ARAMEX/UPS, crated with foam, tracked to your door