MAGIC CIRCUS || Lighting Design Blending Elegance, Humour and Unexpected Details
Magic Circus’ third collection by Lyon-based designer Marie-Lise Féry will bring a smile to your face and lighten your mood with every encounter.
One, two, three colourful globes balanced atop golden stems. Three intriguing eyeballs that are actually lamps! With Pop-Up, Marie-Lise Féry takes us on yet another journey through a fantastic world full of references and nods to our heritage. For her third collection, the Lyon-based designer is turning back time and diving into out-dated hedonism of the 1970s.
Her view of the period is both ironic and vivacious, offering a subtle, yet showy perspective: are these eye-shaped lamps looking at us? Is the reflective surface of the glass really a distorting mirror showing us the narcissism of the time? With the slender and elegant lines calling attention to every little detail, Marie-Lise Féry creates contemporary designs with the trademark “retro-for-tomorrow” approach, which has earned Magic Circus Éditions its name in the lighting industry since its foundation in 2015.
The various Pop-Up pieces consist of between one and three domes of lacquered brass (in pistachio, pink, light blue, dark blue and lemon), each attached to a brass stem (gold or slate-coloured), highlighting the delicate shape of the mouth-blown glass. Floor lamps and table lamps stand on a Carrara marble base. Finishes even include a hallmark stamped on each piece to identify it. Like jewellery, each hand-crafted item tells the story of the very best European artisans who shaped it.
Born in Paris, Marie-Lise Féry moved to the Big Apple after studying art business and drew inspiration from the monumental décors. She then returned to France and chose Lyon as her base, where she set up an antiques gallery named Un Château en Espagne, and started telling her own stories through objects she gleaned here and there. A way for her to perpetuate her mother’s motto: “Objects with a soul will always find their place”.
She moved on to establish Magic Circus Éditions, telling her stories through a different art form - lighting. She injects the magic of the show into her creations, where her designs never fail to surprise and delight. With her love for the theatre, the circus, turn-of-the-century cabarets and music halls, Marie-Lise Féry imagines each new original creation as a way to stage her vision.
Her many passions are reflected in the latest collection, where each piece exudes a sense of play and whimsy with its theatrical appearance, acting as the anchor piece for any room whether set against a colourful or a muted backdrop. To find out more about the brand and its participation in the upcoming Milan Design Week, visit the website here.
Photos courtesy of Magic Circus © Pierrick Verney.
