Gaia

Gaia is a line of tilted planes that looks as if it has come apart along its seams. Jean-François Crochet named it after the Greek goddess of the earth, mother of all life, and drew its panels from the mountains she was said to have raised: near-square plates set at shifting angles, as though something moved in the ground beneath them.

The light lives in the gaps. LEDs sit in the joints between the plates, so instead of a glowing shade you see light escaping through the cracks, washing down onto the table and catching the edges of each panel. Off, Gaia is a quiet, architectural object; on, the joints come alive.

Two lengths, in polished gold plate, nickel plate or a matte walnut finish that brings warmth and grain into a room of hard surfaces.

In the room

Gaia is made for long, flat surfaces. As a guide, the 82cm linear suits a table for four to six, a kitchen island or a desk, and two can run end to end over a longer island. The double linear, at 125cm with twice the LEDs, suits a dining table of around two to 2.6 metres or a boardroom table. Both hang from a single slim white canopy on fine steel cables, set on site anywhere from 50cm to 190cm below the ceiling, so Gaia works in an ordinary room height as well as a tall one.

Because the light leaves through the joints and travels downwards, the table is well lit while the room around it stays soft. Gold reflects the warmest light back onto the surface; nickel is cooler and more graphic; walnut reads almost as furniture, a good choice where the lighting should belong to the joinery.

Hand-crafted by local artisans for Terzani, a house born in Florence.

Configurations

• Linear, 82cm long, 15cm high, 4.2kg, 12 x 1.5W LED, 2,088 lm at 3000K
• Double linear, 125cm long, 12cm deep, 15cm high, 7.6kg, 24 x 1.5W LED, 4,176 lm at 3000K

Specification

• Designer: Jean-François Crochet
• Materials: Raw metal and raw brass, finished as below
• Finishes: Gold plated, nickel plated, matte walnut
• Light source: Built-in replaceable LED module
• Colour temperature: 3000K, or 2700K (about 6% lower output)
• Dimming: Linear in a 1-10V or push version or a DALI version; double linear dims on DALI, push or 1-10V
• Suspension: Clear cord and steel cable, overall height adjustable on site from 50 to 190cm
• Canopy: White
• Certification: CE
• Origin: Made in Italy

Every piece is made to order for you. Caspen handles the specification with you, from configuration and finish to drop, control and installation details, requests finish samples where Terzani can supply them, and arranges bespoke cable lengths, sizes and cluster designs through Terzani. Your lead time is confirmed when you order.