Ingo Maurer lighting designs - Graham Owen insects

Collaboration with Ingo Maurer - Based in Munich Germany

Ingo came to the United States in 2010 to work with me for three days, in a joint effort at refining artistic insects to be incorporated into his creative and beautiful lighting designs.  Ingo sparked and stimulated creativity which continues to render a natural and higher beauty to my creations.

Since 2010 Ingo and I have worked on a number of one-off commissions for private collectors. Some collaborations are pictured below, while others remain private and undocumented.

Some products, such as - Bulb-Limited, Flatterby, Johnny B Butterfly, Five Butterflies, and I Ricchi Poveri - Fly, are available for purchase from the Ingo Maurer catalog, showrooms and distributors.

 

Munich Germany - The Design Museum - November 2019

"Ingo Maurer intimate. Design or what?" - Exhibition opens

 

The Design Museum - Pinakothek der Moderne - Munich Germany

 

opening night invitation

 

enjoying time with friends! Conrad and Isagani

 

Museum Curator - exhibition opening night speech

 

special private viewing, before opening night event...

 

proudly presenting a butterfly to Design Museum Curator Dr. Xenia Riemann-Tyroller

a variety of Ingo Maurer lamps including JB Schmetterling with my butterflies and dragonflies

 

Designer Ron Arad and Sangdoo Shin - both Ingo Maurer collaborators

small assortment of beautiful Ingo Maurer lighting

 

happy to see my butterflies on display - Five Butterflies lamp

 

I Ricchi Poveri Fly - one of my horseflies

 

scale model of Silver Cloud, a recent Ingo installation at the Residenze Theater in Munich

 

scale model of my first collaboration with Ingo - the Biotope - sea sponges with my insects

 

butterflies, dragonflies and beetles

 

web page copy - courtesy ingo-maurer.com

 

 

Ingo Maurer, Designer Known as a Poet of Light, Dies at 87

Ingo Maurer 1932 - 2019

I have always felt honored to collaborate and work with Ingo Maurer, and know him as a dear friend and mentor.

Ingo's genius for beauty and class will be missed in a world that seems to be increasingly focused on utilitarian ideals of conformity.

 

 

Invitation to Ingo's memorial at Residenz Theater Munich Germany

 

Residenze Theater

 

The Munich Residenz Theater commissioned Ingo Maurer's "Silver Cloud" for a room that is used as a cafe,
visible from Max-Joseph-Platz, completed on 18 October 2019.

 

more than 600 people in attendance

 

Ingo memorial center stage

 

list of speakers and music

friends from around the world - celebrating the wonderful life of Ingo Maurer

 

 

Ingo Maurer Showroom - Munich Germany November 2019

 

Ingo's signature red shoes - memorial in his showroom

 

beautiful lighting

 

assortment of Ingo lighting designs and products

 

whimsical

 

lovely butterfly lamps

 

delightful whimsical light

 

giant bulb with an assortment of insects

 

one of the rooms downstairs

 

showroom guest book - pair of JB Butterfly lamps :)

 

 

New York City Design Week - May 10-22 2019

I love New York - spring 2019

 

proud to see my butterflies in the MOROSO storefront window

 

front window display - Ingo Maurer "Flatterby" lamp

 

beautiful light

 

Ingo Maurer "Fly" Bulb lamp inside Ingo's SOHO showroom

lucky timing, I happened to be here when this lamp,
number 12, of 12 made, was purchased by a gentleman from Chile

 

Ingo Maurer SOHO showroom, busy with Ingo here...

 

NYC showroom closing May 2019 - Munich showroom as beautiful as ever...

 

enjoying time with my dear friend Ingo Maurer

 

Tsinandali Estate Georgia - Radisson Collection

Ingo Maurer interior design and lighting

a magic place with a very warm and unique atmosphere

 

a resort of high standard

 

crossvault room

 

illuminating a five-star hotel in Kachetia Georgia

 

1 of 3 giant bulbs with my butterflies, insects and salamanders

 

butterflies dreaming

 

delightful

 

Ingo Maurer giant bulb with Graham Owen butterflies

 

 

Christies - London - Design Sale - October 2018

Sold for 25,000 British Pounds, approximately $35,000

 

Design Week - New York City - May 2018

NYC X Design May 11-23

 

Ingo Maurer NYC showroom entrance

 

my insects wont tickle, sting or bite

 

elegant swarm

 

happy seeing my art on display

 

Five Butterflies

 

Fly

 

Bulb

 

Flatterby

 

 

NYC - Cooper Hewitt - Smithsonian Design Museum

Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color - May 11 2018 - January 13 2019

 

5th Ave at 91st Street, NYC

 

Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. Housed in the renovated and restored Carnegie Mansion, Cooper Hewitt showcases one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence.

 

 

color brings order and excitement to our visual world

 

Ingo Maurer JB Schmetterling lamp on display

 

COLOR OPTICS

Many mesmerizing designs make use of eye-popping optical effects that play with perception and illusion. Both the shimmering whorls of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Peacock vase, ca. 1901 and the brightly winged insects in flight around Ingo Maurer’s hanging lamp J.B. Schmetterling (Butterfly), 2011, dazzle the viewer through the color-shifting property of iridescence.

 

 

proud seeing my insects on display in the Smithsonian National Design Museum

 

link to Cooper Hewitt web site Saturated show information

 

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2018

 

Ingo Maurer "Flatterby" lamp - Circolo Filologico - Milan Italy

 

Graham Owen insects

 

Dancing Insects

 

feeling proud seeing my art on display

 

Ingo Maurer and Graham Owen

 

new Work in Progress

 

colorless butterflies, moths, dragonflies and damselflies

 

Ingo autographed my catalog :)

 

Johnny B. Butterfly and Flatterby

 

saturated with color

 

glowing with iridescent color - handmade - with pride

 

enjoying time with friends

 

having fun in Italy

 

Milan is such a beautiful city

 

New York City - Design Week - May 2017

Ingo Maurer SOHO showroom front window

 

"Bulb limited Fly" 12 pieces - "Bulb limited Heart" 88 pieces - "Bulb" original 1966 design

 

Feeling incredibly proud to see my flies on Ingo's 50th anniversary "Bulb limited Fly"

 

fun with my dear friend Ingo

 

delightfully happy

 

my gift for Ingo - a hand made rainbow butterfly

 

enjoying a wonderful afternoon in the living Butterfly Pavilion at the American Museum of Natural History

 

gorgeous butterfly lands on my fingers - I feel blessed - this years trip to NYC was incredibly special !

 

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2017

Ingo and Graham with Ingo Maurer 50th anniversary lamp "Bulb limited Fly"

 

12 of 200 limited edition bulbs are embellished with my flies

 

the most beautiful light comes from a human heart....

 

Ingo Maurer "Flatterby" lamp with Graham Owen insects

 

Flatterby lamp on cover of Modern Magazine

 

Enjoying time with a dear friend, Sangdoo Shin, - Korean lighting designer and Ingo Maurer distributor
(October 2015, I visited Korea with my son, and Sangdoo made our trip amazingly special)

 

Fun evening with friends and VIP's from Japan

 

Fly on the Bulb

 

Fun day at Como Lake, Lombardy, Italy

 

Milan Cathedral - Duomo di Milano

 

Design Week - New York City - May 2016

NYC X Design

 

Flatterby lamp in front window - Ingo Maurer SoHo Manhattan showroom

 

Flatterby insects - each hand made with love

 

having fun in NYC

 

Ingo's SoHo showroom

 

beautiful lights

 

downstairs

 

Ingo Maurer & Graham Owen - NYC X Design SoHo

 

Five Butterflies - close up detail

 

Five Butterflies lamp - original prototype

 

priceless gift - 5 Butterflies prototype lamp - first displayed in Milan 2014 - a gift from Ingo - who signed the base

"Graham you extended my creativity - Ingo Maurer"

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2016

introducing Ingo Maurer's latest butterfly lamp "Flatterby"

 

my fingers will be busy - producing more beautiful butterflies

 

Milan Design Week 2016 - Ingo Maurer @ San Paolo Converso

 

magnificent San Paolo Converso interior - where my butterflies love to fly

 

Milan Design Week opening party

 

late afternoon sunlight through windows creates a magical painterly effect

 

Graham Owen and Ingo Maurer

 

My amazing friend - world renowned artist and designer Moritz Waldemeyer - Ingo Maurer collaborator

 

Enjoying time with Sangdoo Shin

 

I Ricchi Poveri - Fly - in Milan

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2015

Ingo Maurer lamp - Five Butterflies - limited production of 200

 

close up view - each butterfly is handmade and unique

 

I Ricchi Poveri - Fly - limited production of 100

A small insect sits in repose, comforted by the glowing light of a solitary bulb set aside or possibly forgotten - this is the image of the Ingo Maurer Fly LED Table Lamp. The Fly is a sculptural still life that mimics both life and light, capturing a fleeting moment in the presence of artificially created incandescence. Not only artful and thought-provoking, the Fly cleverly disguises an innovative LED module within the confines of a familiar shape, forming a truly enigmatic source of ambient light. For more than 40 years Ingo Maurer has created somewhat irreverent and thought-provoking designs in a method that is more exo-modern than contemporary. These experimentalist collections enliven fashion runways, monuments and private homes, giving Ingo Maurer lighting a name that resounds in the minds of the design-forward.

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2014

@ Spazio KRIZIA, Milan

 

I Ricchi Poveri Silver Bzzzz - limited edition - 50 pieces - SOLD OUT

 

handmade Damselfly - clad in sterling sliver

 

Horsefly lamp prototype

 

detail

 

Beautiful light attracts beautiful insects - Ingo Maurer Biotope table lamp

 

My New Flame - LED Candles - and butterfly

 

Design Week - New York City - May 2014

art & design

 

Ingo Maurer lighting

 

Ingo Maurer and Graham Owen @ Ingo Maurer SOHO showroom

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2013

Dragon Attack

 

no two are identical - each one hand made

 

pretty wings

 

Graham - working and playing

 

Dragon Attack - by Ingo Maurer - dragonflies and damselflies by Graham Owen

 

s. Libellula Rossa - (red dragonflies) Spazio KRIZIA, Milano Italy

 

"Dragon Attack" and limited edition "J.B. Dragonfly" light

 

glowing dragons

 

Ingo Maurer my dear friend and collaborator

 

Ingo Maurer Butterfly Lamps - 2010 - 2017

available for purchase at fine stores globally

 

 

Johnny B. Butterfly

 

J.B. Schmetterling (German for butterfly) limited production of 200 - All SOLD OUT

These gorgeous light fixtures illuminate some of the most beautiful rooms and suites around the world

 

Close Up Detail

Insects on the JB Butterfly, JB Dragonfly and JB Schmetterling light fixtures are made exclusively for Ingo Maurer, each individually handmade, colored with exquisite pigments from Kremer Pigmente in Munich Germany. No molds are used in their construction; each insect is an individual work of art, created to be beautiful, life-like, durable, and light as a feather.

 

Graham Owen - JB Schmetterling - Ingo Maurer studio - Munich Germany April 2012

 

Interior Design magazine Market Tabloid cover page

 

"Material Worlds", Sotheby's at Sudeley Castle, July 28th - September 30th 2011, London England

 

Ingo Maurer LED Table and Ingo Maurer J.B. Schmetterling lights

 

Photos courtesy of Sotheby's

 

 

 

Ingo Maurer Lighting on Display

Spazio KRIZIA - Milan Italy

Ingo Maurer - Biotope - 2011

The Biotope is a multi-functional work of art, designed to provide light and dampen sound, by incorporating natural sea sponges, while captivating viewers with a magical sense of nature's beauty, mystery and enchantment.

An underlying theme is green, green, green, with spirits flying high, basically, an environmentally friendly masterpiece, incorporating sustainable harvested sea sponges, combined with man-made insects, presenting luminous atmospheres that play with traditional concepts of color, brightness, and shadow.

The Biotope was commissioned by a private collector, with final installation in an undisclosed location

 

one of a kind chandelier

Over four meters in length - one of the world's most amazing, one of a kind, artistic lighting designs

Center piece at the Spazio Krizia - Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2011

 

I enjoyed making snakes and salamanders, to compliment the insects, as well as chase and eat them...

 

Internally illuminated caves and tunnels add a sense of mystery

 

Iridescent butterfly replica basks in delight

 

Buttercup in Flight

 

Hungry Salamander

 

Blue Morpho's in Flight

 

Turquoise and iridescent beetle replicas - 3 of 6 beetle species made for the Biotope

 

 

Real butterfly specimens used for reference to study while making reproductions

These framed butterflies were raised on a butterfly farm, inspected and approved by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

 

Beautiful Ingo Maurer Lighting Designs - J.B. Schmetterling light fixtures and Biotope

 

I had a fantastic time in Milan, such an amazing city

 

Biotope in home

Exhibition Invitation

 

Spirits Flying High!

More than 3,000 people attended the opening night party on April 12th

 

 

Ingo Maurer in Los Angeles - 2010

 

I feel deeply honored!

 

Graham in Munich Germany at Ingo Maurer design studio - December 2010

 

 

one of a kind Ingo Maurer desk lamp

 

Birthday gift from Ingo to his wife Jenny

 

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2012

Ingo Maurer "Biotope Wall" - illuminated with LED Butterflies by Graham Owen 

This is going to a very wonderful new modern house in Switzerland

 

LED Butterflies

 

time for a few photos

Supernatural

 

a fun collaboration

 

Design Week - Milan Italy - April 2012

 

 

Video

 

I love Milano!

 

pretty wings

 

"House of Flies" - one of a kind light fixture - on display Design Week 20012

 

 

London Design Festival - September 2012

Ingo Maurer Red J.B. Dragonfly lamp

 

Red J.B. Dragonfly lamp on display - The London Design Festival - Conran Shop

 

New York Times - Home section cover - September 27, 2012

 

Sotheby's 20th Century Design sale - November 2015

 

Sold for 3x estimated price, $86,000.00

 

A Few Photos from Milan

Break of dawn view from my hotel room - Central Station Milano - 2013

 

Skylight

 

Duomo di Milano

 

Departing Italy 2011

In the News

Bloomberg Businessweek - April 19, 2011

Beautiful in its simplicity, an Ingo Maurer lamp -- essentially an oversize bare light bulb -- was circled by its own handmade "bugs," each a work of art in its own right: butterflies, moths, dragon flies. One can't help but wonder how the real things would react to the colorful decoys. The piece is called "JB Schmetterling," German for butterfly.

New York Times - April 24, 2011

At Ingo Maurer's stand at Euroluce, the furniture fair's biennial lighting show, J.B. Schmetterling, a hanging light bulb ringed with handmade butterflies, moths, and dragonflies (schmetterling is German for butterfly), exemplified the designer's ability to fuse technology and poetry.

The Globe and Mail - Canada - April 23, 2011

The movie industry has the Cannes Film Festival and TIFF, fashion has the Paris and New York shows and design has the Salone Internazionale del Mobile (a.k.a. the Milan Furniture Fair). From all four corners of the globe, some 300,000 buyers, dealers, agents and designers descend on the northern Italian city each spring to see what's new, to be inspired and to buy...

German lighting designer Ingo Maurer even launched an LED wallpaper that can be affixed directly to the wall. In contrast to all this high-tech achievement, however, hand craftsmanship continues to be marketed as the ultimate luxury. Ingo Maurer's J.B. Schmetterling (Johnny B. Butterfly) is a bulb around which life-like "butterflies" flutter; Biotope, a sculptural lighting made from ecologically harvested natural sea sponge, comes complete with its own "eco-system" of (faux) insects.

Interesting Links

Smithsonian National Design Museum - JB Schmetterling in the permanent collection
Modern Design - article - February 2012
Graham Owen - visiting Munich Germany - December 2010 photography

Purchase Ingo Maurer products

Ingo Maurer - web site - Germany

www.divafurniture.com - Los Angeles
www.divafurnitureseattle.com - Seattle
www.luminaire.com - Miami, Chicago
www.stardust.com Sonoma

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