Slab. The Light You Don't See
Slab began with a silhouette: slim, minimal, a single pane of glass set off centre in a metal shroud. The shroud looks deceptively simple. It wraps the hand-slumped glass and the light unit within 36 mm, and for Luke Mills, South Drawn’s design director, that fine profile was the idea from the start. “The name almost came before the design,” he says. “I knew I wanted to create a slab of material that would house this up and down light unit and have quite a fine profile.”
The standout sits where you would least expect to look. Behind the glass is an IP65 body, kept intentionally slim so the glass takes the focus. “An element that often goes unnoticed is the technical element.” The rating was designed in from the beginning, because brass, stainless steel and glass belong outdoors as much as they do inside. “For me, what really completes the collection is the hidden elements.”
Inside the shroud, the light unit sends light up and down through the glass, and the 6 mm face catches it on the way out. “It naturally captures the light that’s coming out of it, and gives you both a refraction and a reflection value.” The glass glows above and below the metal and softens the light as it leaves. Two finishes give it two characters. Ribbed is architectural, and Sand Textured is softer and more organic, a pairing Luke describes as almost like a black and a white.
The light itself is indirect. It washes the wall, reaches the ceiling or the awning, and returns to the room as something closer to daylight. “It’s actually the bounce of the light in the space, and it’s a really nice natural light.” At a front entrance, the brick, the facade and the awning all become the reflector. “You don’t need to be able to see the light source for the light to have an impact on the space.”
Slab is made to order in six brass and stainless steel finishes and four glass finishes, with a six week lead time.
