Art or design? Johannes Budde blurs the lines with LITE

An industrial glass, a sandstone base and a “floating” candle are brought into experimental harmony with LITE, a creative light installation by German designer Johannes Budde.

Subverting expectations when it comes to traditional lighting design, the sconce-style lamp combines a large sheet of wired glass, a type of glass into which a wire mesh is embedded during production, with a single candle.

Budde’s material palette is unique in the way it combines raw substances with modern building materials.

The wired glass was sourced from a German glass manufacturer and upcycled to become part of the project.

Meanwhile, the natural sandstone is locally sourced from a family-owned business to minimise the transportation in gathering other materials. 

Budde cuts and files this stone to create the cube-shaped feet into which the sheet of wire glass is placed.

Finally, a tailored screw connection with a pointed stick is inserted into the centre of the glass sheet to provide stability for a candle, which appears to levitate in front of the glass as the attachment is not visible from the front perspective. 

LITE, lighting as art

Art is subjective — just because something is called art doesn’t necessarily mean it has artistic value to all people. In the case of conceptual, well-designed lighting like LITE, the lines between what is art and what isn’t are blurred even further.

Beyond its beautiful form, which is reminiscent of antique sconces, is a unique function that encourages users to manually light the candle.

Ironically, this works against the “no touching” rule when it comes to art but makes for a more intimate relationship with the product.