For architect and artist Dana Harel, there is a near-invisible line between beauty and utility. Driven by an inherent material curiosity, Harel consistently explores the deeper meaning of everyday objects, and how their basic function gives them life and essence. Finding inspiration in architectural forms, the human body and the natural world, her work defies categorization, leaning into elements of both the real and imagined and striking a balance between strength and fragility. 

From her San Francisco-based studio White Dirt – which she founded in 2020 – Harel takes a cross-disciplinary approach to design, favouring tactility and hand-crafted methods to produce her signature porcelain vessels, lighting and furniture that are at once familiar and unexpected. This dichotomy is most-recently expressed with her Quilt light, which debuted as part of an exhibition entitled From Sculpture to Utility at the second New York edition of the Collectible design fair this fall.

An illuminated sculpture, Quilt was inspired by distinct yet disparate memories – building blanket forts as a child and a visit to the Pantheon in Rome. A quilted cotton blanket draped over a handcrafted wooden baluster, Quilt finds a connection between the two by evoking an atmosphere of softness and sanctuary; one feels as though they can crawl inside and be protected by the folded fabric. The two also influences “collapse together” with the improvisational nature of constructing forts and how “they’re pulled together from what is close at hand, there is no overthinking, just building” meeting the precise and marvelous engineering of the Pantheon’s coffered ceiling. A string of lights is knotted around the spindle, providing a warm glow inside the blanket, which is hand-stitched with patterns “inspired by everyday items, like paper towels, and the sacred, like the Pantheon,” says Harel. 

Following in Quilt’s footsteps, Soft Lights is a series of wall-mounted fixtures that continue Harel’s experimentation with using textiles to frame and filter light. Utilizing smaller swatches of blanket, some folded, some knotted, and all hand-stitched with similar patterns as Quilt, the lighting fixtures are lightweight and delicate and fill a room with warmth.

Meanwhile, the Paper wall lights in the series transform a sheet of specialty canvas paper into a trio of folded and rolled sculptures. For both the Soft Lights and Paper fixtures, Harel devised custom cast-brass fasteners, switches and plugs to affix them to the wall.  

Expressive and evocative, the Quilt lighting series by White Dirt lighting has a certain magic, one that tugs at memories and emotions and draws a through-line between the familiar and the fantastical.