Lindsey Adelman gives ancient oil lamps a contemporary twist

While design thinking is mostly creative problem solving, what if the answer to a specific set of problems is just 'to slow down,' says gallerist and curator Alex Tieghi-Walker, whose outfit TIWA Gallery just opened an exhibition, a tableau, a proposal from the high-priestess of lighting, Lindsey Adelman. 'A Realm of Light' is on view at the gallery's Tribeca location during New York Design Week 2024 and until 8 June. 

'A lot of the shows here are nature inspired,' says Tieghi-Walker. 'Lindsey's show is centred around this idea of slowing down, and is a moment of calm, a space when you're alone with the oil maps, it’s very soothing.'

'A Realm of Light' by Lindsey Adelman at TIWA Gallery

'These objects that surround ritual and ceremony, they allow us to enter into another world but also enter into a world inside of ourselves that we haven't fully explored yet,' Adelman told Wallpaper*. And it so happens that the Chinatown/Tribeca Loft that houses TIWA Gallery was just the backdrop Adelman thought right for her latest series: a departure from her iconic lighting, with hand-blown glass oil lamps, basins for natural oils with forever-wicks illuminated through gesture. 

'I pretty much always was into electric,' she says with a laugh. But after experimenting over the last year with oil-based mobile lights, Adelman dove into practices that hark back to times so long ago. 'It’s been 6000 years of people using oil,' explains Adelman. 'So I was building upon so many rich traditions, and reinventing how we want to incorporate that now.'

'A Realm of Light' consists of two archetypes of the oil lamps: brass-chain-suspended amber hand-blown glass ‘bulbs’ (produced from long-time collaborator Michiki Sakano) that can hang solo or integrate together to form sculptural chandeliers; and sitting lamps, blown in brown, black, clear and gold glass from Nancy Callahan, yet another close creative conspirator. 

'I like this idea of personal altars,' says Adelman, signalling that using one’s own hand and taking a moment out of the day or night to ignite these lights is a 'ritualistic act.' She adds: 'The smallest moments of life end up being the biggest ones, so I wanted to make work that’s apt and minimalist but also mysterious and authentic.'

To enhance the mood evoked by Adelman’s new foray ceremonial and gestural works, Tieghi-Walker commissioned Brooklyn-based designer Sarah Nsikak to create hand-stitched, patchwork wall hangings, made of translucent recycled fabrics in indigo, blue and creams that now drape from the ceiling to delineate the exhibition space. 'A lot of those textiles are over 100 years old, so they’re from a time when people were using oil lamps,' says Tieghi-Walker. 

The entire exhibition is ultimately evokes 'the idea of looking back to when we made things with a bit more care, and referencing periods when people put effort into making objects,' says Tieghi-Walker. 'Being British, I’m from an old part of the world and my general interest in craft and hand-made stems from traditional practices.' Adelman, too, sees these works as entry-point 'to shift how we navigate our lives in a different way.'

 'A Realm of Light' is on view as part of New York Design Week and until 8 June

TIWA Gallery
86 Walker Street, 5th floor

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