In encountering the Under Pressure lighting collection, one is immediately drawn into an aesthetic paradox where strength and fragility coalesce into a singular, suspended moment. The design captures the volatile instant when molten glass, still breathing with heat and life, submits reluctantly to external force. It is not a romanticized yielding, but rather a visceral, inevitable compression a struggle frozen in time. The result is a set of forms that seem less designed than discovered, as if the glass has been caught mid-sigh. There is something deeply reminiscent of Rodin’s sculptures here, particularly his The Hand of God, where creation is depicted as a tension between fluidity and finality. In Under Pressure, form is a negotiation, not a conclusion.
Functionally, however, the collection walks a precarious line. The luminaires perform well within the atmospheric register, offering a soft, scattered light that enlivens surrounding surfaces with gentle transitions of brightness and shade. Yet, their photometric efficiency remains secondary to their sculptural impact. These are not instruments for environments that require precision illumination; they are, unapologetically, visual protagonists. The slight visual interruption caused by the central mechanical rod, while inevitable due to structural demands, does occasionally fragment the light beam in ways that could be seen as less than ideal for more demanding lighting applications. Nevertheless, in settings where mood and materiality outweigh strict functionality, the lights excel almost poetically.
pierces the delicate glass form like a cold, unapologetic axis of necessity. Here lies one of the most intellectually satisfying aspects of the design: the mechanical connection is not disguised, nor is it aestheticized beyond recognition. It is simply there,raw, almost brutal , and precisely because of this honesty, it transcends its utilitarian origins and becomes beautiful. This phenomenon, where technical constraints are embraced so completely that they become part of the object’s poetic language, recalls principles from Donald Norman’s reflections on design: necessity, when acknowledged rather than hidden, can enrich rather than diminish. In Under Pressure, the threaded rods, instead of undermining the organic spirit of the glass, anchor it into a world where gravity and human imposition reign.
In the broader gestalt of the piece, the relationship between material and force, between what bends and what holds, defines its emotional resonance. The lighting behaves as if it is still in process, not quite fixed, still vulnerable to the invisible pressures that birthed it. In terms of sustainability, however, there is an unspoken fragility. Hand-blown glass and exposed mechanical parts imply a need for careful maintenance, a design more suited to curated spaces than utilitarian settings. The light and shadow effects it produces, particularly through transparent or semi-opaque glass, can create fascinating, almost ethereal atmospheres, but at times they risk unintended harshness depending on placement and external light conditions.
Ultimately, Under Pressure is less an object and more an event a crystallization of struggle between the organic and the industrial. Its nearest analogy in our physical world would be a glassblower’s studio at the precise moment the final breath shapes the vessel, a moment captured forever in stasis. The collection doesn’t merely light a space; it animates it with the memory of its own becoming, offering a profound meditation on pressure, compromise, and the delicate architecture of form.
Brand : Brokis
Designers : Boris Klimek, Lenka Damová
Photo Credits : Martin Chum
