Lightshades by Karen Henriksen

Just as architecture and interior decoration have long been a source of inspiration for her hat designs, Karen Henriksen’s range of sculptural lightshades draws on her millinery expertise and
distinctive design ethos.
Selected pieces are available to buy online here.
Or get in touch if you’d like to discuss commissioning a customised or bespoke piece for your home or interior project.

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The Collection

The Material

Abaca fabric, known as sinamay in the millinery industry, is woven from the banana leaf plant. It is made by independent weavers and small family co-ops in the Phillipines, who work directly with millinery suppliers, also small family businesses, here in the UK.

Lightweight and translucent, it can be draped, folded and softly pleated in many layers, making it ideal for ambient lighting. Its fine weave gives it a refined finish with an appearance of linen.

Background

As it was for many people, 2020/21 was a turning point for Karen. Changes in both her professional and personal life led to a wish to explore a new creative path, separate from her hat designs, and to discover how her extensive millinery experience and fashion/textiles background could inform new work.
Initially this was in the form of small vessels and sculptural wall pieces made using millinery materials and techniques, sometimes incorporating and adapting hats from her couture archive. It became apparent that this work needed more time and space to develop than she was able to give to it, and so she put it to one side.

Meanwhile, another exciting direction that she was keen to pursue was to design and make a small range of lightshades, using millinery materials and techniques. Although this was a new venture, Karen was able to bring considerable experience. Back in 2007 she had been commissioned by a furniture and lighting design brand to help them realise design ideas for two new lights. She created prototypes for them, which led to a fruitful 11 year working relationship, with Karen taking on production of the two lightshade designs.

Karen’s range of lightshades has now become an important part of her creative business, and has brought a large-scale aspect to her work and outlook. She is continuing to develop the use of the same versatile material, with her new large scale wall pieces.
She has also recently returned to the earlier ideas and themes, and is working on sculptural textile pieces, alongside learning new disciplines and materials, including carving in wood.

Launch

Entering the world of art, craft and design for interiors, Karen’s initial range of handmade lightshades launched at Material Matters in October 2022. This was followed in February 2023 by the opportunity to be a part of Craftmakers in Residence at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. Showing at Future Icons Selects during London Craft Week 2024 provided some gorgeous photography at the Bargehouse. (See photos below).
The Making Spaces initiative at Decorex 2023, and again in 2024 in their Next Chapter showcase, brought her work to the attention of leading interior designers and architects.

Millinery Heritage

Karen has always had an interest in contrasting textures and surfaces in furniture, interior design and architecture. And of course, the natural world is a constant source of inspiration, in particular, abstracted botanical and floral elements. She also draws on her couture millinery archive (see some examples below) - where sinamay, silk, or paper, wraps, drapes and folds around itself, or blooms cloud-like from wearers’ heads.

This lovely quote by Lucia van der Post back in 2011 has an interesting prescience…