marten herma anderson draws from childhood experiments
Architectural and furniture designer Marten Herma Anderson presents a new series of candy-like lamps that translate a childhood memory into a tactile lighting object. The project is driven by a moment he recalls as ‘a childhood memory of melted candy on a lamp-bulb,‘ which eventually expanded into a small family of lamps. What began as a playful accident has been shaped into a focused material study.
Anderson describes a long-standing fascination with ‘translucent colour — ice cream wrappers, gummy bears, the way light moves through something that was never meant to glow.‘ Using resin, he suspends melted pigments to echo the soft collapse of candy under warmth. The shades appear fluid and spontaneous as they hover around the bulb.
image © Ragnar Schmuck
fluid lamps crafted from melted pigments
Each of Marten Herma Anderson’s lamps combines glass fiber shades with raw, waxed ceramic bases. This material palette lends a clear conversation between softness and structure. The shades hold traces of their making: fine mesh impressions, tiny air bubbles, and thin red seams that trace the perimeter. These details give the objects a sense of immediacy, as though they were shaped quickly and allowed to settle into place.
Below, the ceramic bases ground the composition, as their muted, earthy tone contrasts with the luminous upper forms. The proportion between base and shade keeps the lamp balanced and allows for the expressive resin to remain the focus.
image © Ragnar Schmuck
material experimentation for glowing atmosphere
Once illuminated, the candy lamps shift from object to atmosphere as color disperses through the resin. Some areas glow softly while others remain dense. The light activates the embedded forms, bringing forward small details that remain subtle when the lamp is off.
Anderson frames the work as an extension of personal habits and memories. ‘Everyone around me knows I love candy: not just the taste, but the translucent colors,‘ he notes, recalling how he once placed a gummy bat onto a bulb, watching it melt. That early experiment finds a new form here, refined through material control and scaled into a series. While the lamps maintain that sense of play, they demonstrate a clear understanding of fabrication.
image © Ragnar Schmuck
image © Ragnar Schmuck
image courtesy the artist
image courtesy the artist
Marten Herma Anderson, portrait. image © Ina Heuer
project info:
artist: Marten Herma Anderson | @mrtn.ndrsn
photography: © Ragnar Schmuck, © Ina Heuer
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