Daisies and Daggers: A Crystal Jungle

I've been thinking a lot about crystal lately. Coco Chanel had a bountiful bouquet of crystal flowers atop a glass table in her Rue Cambon apartment; artist Florine Stettheimer had one sitting beside masses of cellophane drapes, overlooking a grand view of Bryant Park.

How lovely would a crystal jungle be? One full of daisies and daggers, delicate and dangerous at the same time. Maybe not quite as cloyingly feminine as the Coco or Stettheimer bouquets; rather, a tension between masculine and feminine. Crystal lends itself to this sort of contrast, don't you think?

This piece is a set of lamps, formerly sparse wire structures with bare, exposed bulbs planted directly at the center— stripped down skeletons of flowers in their own right. I wrapped and encased them with my own sort of crystal bouquet. Ideal, because it softens and splinters the light from the formerly exposed bulbs, which hide behind the mass of crystal flowers growing up the lamp shafts.

Lamps were created, photographed and edited by Lauren, click to enlarge.