Milan 2015: Dutch designer Maarten Baas has formed milky and coloured glass into pendant lamps that look like balloons.
Designed by Maarten Baas for Czech lighting company Lasvit, the Das Pop lamps are created by hand-blowing glass into shapes similar to inflated party balloons.
Black clay is irregularly shaped around the tops of the glass diffusers to create caps, which cover the ends of the bulbs and connect the shade to the electrical cord.
The clay is moulded around a steel component that holds the concealed bulb in place and the glass diffuses the light when illuminated.
"With this piece Maarten Baas looked toward classic, recognisable shapes, yet with a modern and almost comic twist," said Lasvit.
"Technically it's a unique joint-venture between the classic hand-blown glass by Lasvit and the clay-covered arms by Baas and his production team from Den Herder Production House," the brand said.
Weighing approximately three kilograms, each of the lamps is shaped slightly differently due to the production technique – blowing through a tube with a ball of molten glass on the end while slowly turning it. The glass is available is translucent milk, red, green and yellow colours.
The pendants are derived from a chandelier that Baas debuted for Lasvit in Milan last year, which featured smaller version of the glass shades positioned upward on the ends of a clay frame.
Baas also showed floor lamps from the collection at his circus-themed exhibition during the same event in 2014.
This year's designs were presented at Euroluce as part of the Salone del Mobile furniture fair, which concluded on Sunday.
Other lighting designs showcased at the fair included illuminated globes balanced on delicate metal supports by Michael Anastassiades and a range of cordless lamps by Philippe Starck for Flos.