Combining an artist’s vision with the structural strategies of a mechanical engineer, Michael Foy is creating something innovative, exciting and beautiful in torchieres, desk and table lamps, and what he calls “pendant lamps” or chandeliers.
A hybrid of the organic and synthetic, they look like Art Nouveau or Prairie-style lighting fixtures as reinterpreted by a space station designer from the year 2500.
Foy achieves this futuristic style with a combination of angular, umbrellalike glass shades of colored, raindrop textured or frosted glass. The bases are hollow glass columns, and every part is supported by delicate but powerful trusses of brass or steel.
Foy began making furniture and lamps in 1993 and has had steady work ever since. He recently formed LluminArts Studio Inc. in Winnetka and has begun supplying a transcendent glow to the Holly Hunt showroom in the Merchandise Mart.
While Foy describes himself as a “stained-glass artist” and often works in honey, purple, cobalt blue, green and orange hues, the latest crop of fixtures at Holly Hunt is in “a neutral presentation” of clear, frosted and textured glasses. The results are like crystal jewelry for the home.
Foy’s lamps are available through interior de-signers and architects at the Holly Hunt showroom at the Mart or from LluminArts Studio, 847-441-9828. Prices run from $925 for table lamps to $2,122 for chandeliers. –