South African design studio Dokter and Misses have created a series of lights reminiscent of surrealist artworks.
Made of blown glass bubbles that balance on graphic steel structures, the Moonjelly series is the Johannesburg-based studio's first attempt at making products that incorporate glass.
"They're like deflated balloons or suspended drips," explained Dokter and Misses co-founder and head designer Katy Taplin.
"Some look quite a bit like boxing gloves and have a cartoon-like quality while others are more surrealist melting forms," she told Dezeen.
The lights were born out of a visit to the Ngwenya glass factory, where Dokter and Misses were invited to work alongside international and local glassblowers to experiment with the traditional craft and come up with new suggestions for shapes.
"We had an idea of what we wanted to do but we had no idea if it would technically work," said Taplin. "So this really is the result of our play. And they are playful and weird."
The studio worked with the team of blowers to bend recycled glass orbs over steel structures to produce a melting effect that recalls the paintings of Salvador Dalí.
The glass shapes bring a sculptural quality to the pieces, as no two shapes are alike. The white glass diffuses the light, offering a softened glow.
"We departed from a point that we knew well, steelwork, and experimented with how the glass in its molten state would interact with it, in order to create a new production process," added Taplin.
Dokter and Misses was founded in 2007 by industrial designer Adriaan Hugo and graphic designer Katy Taplin. The duo develops furniture, lighting and interior design solutions that are inspired by the chaotic city that surrounds them.
Their bold, colourful, hand-painted pieces form part of a growing catalogue of limited-edition collectible work that has been exhibited in Basel, Dubai, London, New York and Miami.
Dokter and Misses are represented by the Southern Guild collective of designers in South Africa, alongside Porky Hefer and artist-cum-designer Jesse Ede, whose orbit light turns a full circle to mimic the movement of the moon.