Caldren Pendant Lamp

The Caldren Pendant Lamp is a handbell hung on a cord. The shade keeps the shape of a small bronze bell, a flared skirt with a rolled lip, but it is built up from squares of natural shell laid edge to edge like a mosaic, so the surface is a grid of thin, pearly tiles instead of cast metal. Where a bell would have its wooden handle there is a rough ball of travertine, the pitted yellow stone of Roman paving, and the cable runs up from it to a plain iron canopy. When the bulb is on, the shell tiles light up one by one, each a slightly different shade of cream, and the grout lines between them stay dark.