Mayuhana Mie Pendant

It's more than a string theory. The glowing sphere of Toyo Ito's Mayahuna series takes on a decidedly otherworldly cast in this large-scale pendant iteration. In a collaboration with Japanese lighting house Yamagawa that begun more than a decade ago, the Pritzker-winning Toyo designed a piece defined by silky white spun string reminiscent of a cocoon. Mayuhana is created by spinning spun glass around a mold. The resulting softness of the light evokes another Japanese favorite, the traditional portable paper lanterns known as Bonbori. In Toyo's care, the halogen light source is enveloped in triple-layered shelters within. Yamagiwa, first established in 1923, has been specializing in innovative lighting products for more than a half-century. Japanese-born Toyo is heralded as one of the modern world's most influential architects for his conceptual vision of giving form to virtual ideas, referring to architecture as the "clothing" of urban dwellers.