Shop Talk with MSDS Vol. 14

What drew you to working with RBW?

MSDS: It’s our go-to brand for a lot of our interior projects, specifically because it’s a company led by designers. We live amongst a lot of RBW fixtures in our lives already. We really respect the process and the curiosity about creating the casting for all the wall sconces.

Working with RBW was an opportunity to try to use all those assets that we appreciate about the company in the design process, and then have our opportunity to bring something to it. We love the product. We actually use it, and we specify it, in our lives and in our projects.

Where did the idea for Sequencer begin?

MSDS: When we sat down to work on this design, we envisioned a system that could be built from a single component and then expand into a larger series without any major formal changes. We imagined a column, and then a colonnade. So very formal, very austere, and very classical.

It’s described in very familiar materials. We were thinking of American manufacturing, Canadian manufacturing, tubes, plate, steel or aluminum, and really go-to finishes. Working with RBW was also an opportunity to do something on a grand scale, which isn’t something we usually have.

What interests you about repetition and scale?

MSDS: I feel like I’m in a place in design right now where I’m really interested in the most simple, first-principles elements of working with form. One of those major elements is repetition. Almost like music, because it’s named after a sequencer. The same thing done repeatedly creates an effect. If you continue to do that, it creates a larger effect. And stacking and layering.

I think the form reflects that desire to go back to something so elemental, so simple. What’s interesting about going from a single to a two to a four is that it can exist in any of those ratios or forms as a standalone object.

How did you arrive at the glass shape?

MSDS: The glass form was a result of trying different shapes until one worked. The globes contrasted too greatly with the form. Conical forms just weren’t it. This sort of button shape just worked. And it’s its own thing. It has its own profile, its own shape.

I feel there’s a perfect contrast between the glass elements and the cylindrical forms. They’re slightly larger cylinders, yet they’re softened. They speak a bit of the language of a classic globe light. The scale is the smallest thing it could be while still emitting the light in the appropriate manner.

How do you think about lighting’s effect on a space?

MSDS: When we lay out a space or work in interiors, we put a lot of consideration into lighting because it’s really how you exist in the room. We try to create different levels of lighting. A lot of floor lamps, table lamps, wall sconces. We really don’t rely on a lot of typical recessed lights. We tend to steer away from brightly lit spaces, so we like to have control over ambient lighting and diffused lighting.

Lighting differs from a lot of other objects in space because it is a formal object in the space, but it also creates atmosphere. So it has to be considered on two different levels.