From the studio of David Weeks, a chandelier-inspired Kopra Burst pendant fixture. The explosive reach of its bubbling, modernist composition would boldly enliven any interior.

At once space-age and timeless, organic and otherworldly, the Kopra Burst comprises a balanced arrangement of fifteen differently-sized Boi shades suspended from a steel drop and mounted to powder-coated arms of varying lengths. The steel Boi shades (a Weeks signature) exemplify the designer’s use of “formal reduction,” whereby elementary shapes such as cones and spheres have been carved into to produce more obscure profiles. They feature openings at both the top and the bottom, allowing light to flow through, and rotate 320° for multidirectional illumination.

A vibrant rejection of conventional expectations, the Kopra Burst arguably represents the height of statement-making sculptural modernism in lighting.

DAVID WEEKS (b. 1968) is an American designer of lighting, furniture, and home goods. He was a pioneering figure in the burgeoning Brooklyn design movement at the end of the last century and is widely regarded as a founding father of modern North American lighting design.

Born in Madison, Wis., and raised in Athens, Ga., Weeks studied painting and sculpture at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, earning his BFA in 1990. He then worked in the Manhattan atelier of nature-inspired jewelry designer Ted Muehling (b. 1953)—before founding a studio of his own in 1996.

Since his earliest roots in Brooklyn’s artsy DUMBO neighborhood, Weeks has been celebrated for genre-defining work and a distinctly hands-on, sculpturally creative process that explores scale and proportion, balance, and movement. His lighting designs are especially known for their gravity-defying minimalism.

In addition to lighting, he creates furniture, textiles, home goods, and wooden toys—often in collaboration with such partners as Roll & Hill, Moroso, Tala, Habitat, and Areaware. His award-winning pieces have been exhibited in Milan, Paris, London, and New York City and are installed in high-profile commercial locations and private collections worldwide.

Weeks served as an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design from 1998-2006, and, in 2002, he was a visiting critic at Yale. He was featured in the 2003 Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Triennial: Inside Design Now; in 2004, he was one of seven designers chosen to represent New York at Berlin’s 7+7 Designmai exhibit. In 2005, Weeks was invited to judge i-D Magazine’s Annual Design Review. In April 2006, he made his second appearance in the Metropolitan Home Design 100, and, in 2007, he was nominated for a second Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award.

DAVID WEEKS STUDIO was founded in 1996 in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of north-central Brooklyn, N.Y., as the designer David Weeks’ eponymous workshop. It specializes in the production of lighting and furniture for both commercial and residential purposes. It is renowned in particular for its large-scale sculptural lighting, much of which is handmade by a team of designers, engineers, and artisans in a process that marries artistic sensibility with technical precision.

The studio was a celebrated fixture of Brooklyn’s late 20^th-century independent design movement. Its commissioned projects have included establishments such as Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the MGM Grand and Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

Inevitably, you rely on simplicity for the answers. – DAVID WEEKS

DETAILS

Designer – DAVID WEEKS

Design Period/Year – 2000s

Maker – DAVID WEEKS STUDIO

Production Period/Year – 2000s

Origin – USA

Styles/Movements – POSTMODERN

Materials – STEEL

Colors – BLACK

Shade – INCLUDED

Power – UP TO 120V (US STANDARD), HARDWIRED

Condition – Excellent vintage condition. May show minor signs of previous ownership and use.

Dimensions – 52" DIAM. × 22" H