Florence Deau 
Robert and Brenda Zurn are founders of Florida-based design studio DAMM concerned with exploring the wild lands between art and design. I simply love their handcrafted lighting collection and the philosophy behind the brand.
Couldn’t make up my mind on picking only one lighting to show you, so here are my favorites!
Above – Artemis pendant made of solid brass arrows professionally fletched with real feathers. Available as a single arrow, a cluster of three, or a custom configuration to suit – Brass can be blackened, feather color options available.
Artemis pendant detail – I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts. -Homer
Hombre pendant begins life as defunct lighting parts. “We have our local finisher, an amazing custommotorcycle painter, refinish and hand paint an ombre fade on the recovered shades. We then hand turn the ash upper, finish with wax, and install new lighting components”.
Hombre pendants
Little Boy table lamp – Hand turned solid Ash base, cerused, and hand finished with beeswax – “Little Boy takes its shape from the nuclear fuel used in the first atomic bomb. As part of the American Design Club’s show “Hometown Homage”, designer Robert Zurn created the lamp as an homage to his birthplace, Oak Ridge,TN. Oak Ridge was a clandestine city, part of the Manhattan Project, which refined the uranium used in the first atomic bomb, code named “Little Boy” – Custom hand blown glass shade fabricated by local glass artisans”.
Catena pendants – I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance. -Arthur Rimbaud – “We saw the creative potential in café string lights, the ability to drape them however you see fit, or how they best fit a space. Catena has the versatility and creative interaction of string lights, but with the beauty and substance of thick solid brass chain and solid brass lights”.
Amanita are LED table lamps that could have sprouted from the forest floor. The hand spun solid copper and brass shades are hand hammered by skilled artisans. Each takes hours of hammering and annealing and has a beautiful, detailed texture – Hand turned solid Ash base, cerused, with a natural beeswax finish.
Theorem table lamp – Hand turned solid Ash base, cerused, with a natural beeswax finish – “A LED desk lamp inspired by the hypotenuse of a right triangle. Bonus points if you can recall from your school days what Pythagoras had to say about this special side!”
Fovea LED table lamp that somehow made geometry cute – Hand turned solid Ash base with a natural beeswax finish. Cast solid brass cone body. Hand spun solid copper shade.
Terrace table lamp – Hand turned solid Ash base with hand cut, enameled ‘terraces’. Wood sealed with a natural beeswax finish. “As a nod to the Miami Terrace Reef and the famous Art Deco architecture of our home state, we created Terrace. Chic styling expressed in natural materials is one of our favorite design challenges”.
Photos © Damm
