Every autumn, Heal’s is proud to host our very own Festival of Light (10-31 October), and this year it’s our seventh annual celebration.
The in-store and online event is created to coincide with the changing seasons – when the days get shorter and the evenings get darker – and to showcase the world’s most exquisite lighting brands and designers. From classic products to contemporary styles, our illuminating mix of bright and beautiful designs aims to inspire a simple refresh, whether you’re looking for a hallway lamp to provide a warm welcome, or a bedside light to create a cocooning feel.
As ever, all our lighting brings together only the best from around the world, from big-name designers to up-and-coming talent. Here, we introduce just some of the makers behind our stand-out models, sure to shine a light on their skills.
Sir Kenneth Grange
Allow us to (re)introduce you to British industrial designer Sir Kenneth Grange. While famous for elevating everyday designs for household brands such as Kenwood and Kodak, he’s also admired for his reinterpretation of classic lighting for contemporary homes at Anglepoise®, where he has been design director since 2003. Beloved by architects and creatives, Sir Kenneth Grange updated the original Type 75™ Desk Lamp, and it’s become the brand’s most popular style yet. Creating limited editions with the likes of Paul Smith make the lamps even more covetable.
Tom Dixon
Say hello to Tom Dixon – the self-taught British innovator who has become synonymous with maximalist design. From lighting to furniture and accessories, his pioneering use of materials and techniques has deservedly put him on a pedestal, adding his signature rebellious streak to everything he creates. Avant-garde and artistic, lighting is arguably his signature, in particular look-at-me pendants. His Stone Pendant Lights are beautifully crafted from subtly-patterned white marble, which now feature a custom-built interchangeable LED module, for a tough but tactile conversation-starter in any space.
Patricia Urquiola
Meet Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish designer who relocated from Oviedo to Milan and became one of Italy’s most respected names, thanks in large part to collaborations with brands such as Achille Castiglioni, Vico Magistretti and Piero Lissoni. Now with an eponymous studio – founded in 2011 together with her partner Alberto Zontone – there’s simply no stopping Patricia as she crafts spectacular designs across lighting, furniture and homeware. Case in point is Almendra, a modular lighting system with shapes and colours inspired by an almond tree, from which it takes its name. Each leaf can be turned to create a different configuration and lighting emission while every part can be dismantled and recycled properly for a design that’s as sustainable as it is stylish.
Margaret O’Rorke
Get to know Margaret O’Rorke, the British ceramic artist whose works owe more to avant-garde Japanese forms than traditional English eccentricities, despite studying painting at Chelsea School of Art and ceramics at Camberwell. Paired with cutting-edge technology, her designs certainly make a statement at home, as well as catching the attention of international galleries, collectors, restaurants and hotels. Margaret’s materials – such as fine porcelain and bone china – are remarkable, to say the least, used as a structural medium to channel both natural and artificial light.
Marcel Wanders
Dutch designer Marcel Wanders (pictured, left, alongside Gabriele Chiave, creative director at his eponymous studio), based out of Amsterdam and named by Wallpaper* as one of the leading talents of the last 15 years, is a name to know. He first rose to fame with the design of his Knotted Chair in 1996 and has since designed for global brands such as B&B Italia, Cappellini and KLM, amongst others, reinterpreting the techniques and materials of traditional Dutch design for contemporary times. His partnership with porcelain brand Lladró delivers a stand-out lighting collection in the naturally-inspired shape of Nightbloom – featuring petal forms that sway delicately in the breeze and produce a spectacular array of lighting effects.
Tom Raffield
Sustainability and British lighting and furniture designer Tom Raffield have become synonymous with each another. Part of a new generation of exciting makers, his star is firmly on the rise, and it’s not hard to see why. Tom has revived the age-old technique of steam-bending wood – requiring little energy and producing minimal waste – to create spectacular pieces featuring organic shapes, intricate curves and natural craftsmanship. His Verso collection, which takes its name from the Latin word for ‘spin’ and includes ceiling, wall and floor lights, is inspired by the gravity-defying, swooping motion of falling leaves in the wind.
Click here to browse all the designers in our Festival of Light.