Arts Commentary & Writing, No. ❻
October 26, 2024
Flights of Fancy
The best holiday giving ideas made by Brown alums for you and yours
Edited by Pippa Jack and Louise Sloan; Produced by Kerry Lachmann
NATURAL LIGHT
It is not often that you find lighting at this intimate scale, Elliott Rosenberg ’24 says. This small lamp’s function “becomes much more clearly to cultivate ambiance.” The Brown/RISD dual-degree student created his Echinacea series of lighting, which “explores the ways in which color, texture, light, and geometry intersect,” as part of his senior year in RISD’s furniture design program. His Brown concentrations also came in handy: “The shaping of a product with human experience at the forefront... was honed in computer science courses,” while “making something idiot-proof is a typical task for an engineer.” Referencing maritime lighthouses, Beacon features a touch dimmer connected to the weighted brass baseplate, and both the Northeast ash wood body and the glass dome—hand blown in Pawtucket, R.I.—can be ordered in a variety of muted colors. It’s a “callback to the nature-forward ethos” of Rosenberg’s design practice. “I grew up spending a large amount of time in the redwood forests,” says the California native. “The smell of dark green redwood leaves and mulch just after it has rained is the smell of home.” His vision now is to “meld fine arts, design objects, and functional home goods.” Each light is assembled by Rosenberg in his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. “As I look to reconcile my purpose in life and my ability to survive,” Rosenberg says, “being a designer might just be an opportunity to make a living while exploring the depths of the natural world.”
$270; 10% off with code ECH10
elliottrosenberg.com
HANDCRAFTED HEIRLOOMS
Jenna Wainwright Fennell ’02 learned metalsmithing while at Brown, then her master’s thesis focused on the role of nostalgia in the experience of goods. Now she and her husband use old world techniques to capture forgotten joys in handcrafted gold jewelry. The Emerald Astrid Ring, above, features an ethically sourced emerald set in 18-karat fair mined gold.
$3,970
eastcampgoods.com