Airy and Calming — Jardan’s Nelly Lamp in Mist

Jardan’s award-winning Nelly lamp is now available in an airy and calming blue, Mist. Taking inspiration from the symmetrical and fluid form of the top link of a chain, Nelly’s shape is one that is playful, sculptural and soothing.

Jardan’s most coveted lamp and winner of the 2022 European Product Design Awards (EPDA) Top Design Winner in the Accent Lamp Category, Nelly, is now available in a calming fourth colourway, Mist. Nelly’s body is slip-cast in ceramic with a glossy glaze that shows off its unique and smooth form. Crafted in Australia’s oldest pottery studio, Bendigo Pottery, Jardan taps into its rich 163-year history to deliver world class craftsmanship and manufacturing right here in our own backyard.

Constructed with a gloss ceramic body and a hand-blown opal borosilicate glass sphere, Nelly’s body is slip-cast in ceramic with a glossy glaze that shows off its unique and smooth form.

When stripped back, Nelly is simple geometry. The tall lamp version typifies an organic architectural arch. The lamp is expertly crafted by Bendigo Pottery, a local factory that has been handmaking ceramics since the mid-1800s when it supplied the Goldfields with ginger beer bottles and acid containers. Today, Bendigo Pottery may look a little different, yet the same sound engineering, world-class craftsmanship and sculptural purity remain hallmarks.

When crafting Nelly, the Bendigo Pottery makers start with a model of the lamp that is 15 per cent larger than the finished product. This is to account for the inevitable shrinkage that occurs when fired to make a plaster mould, and from here, liquid clay is poured into a slip casting mould and left to set. When the piece is removed, the seams are then trimmed, and holes cut before being dried and bisque fired. After the first firing the piece is now strong enough to be handled, but crucially is still porous enough to absorb the glaze. Finally, the piece is glazed and fired once more, this time on a sacrificial plate. The resulting finish is a lamp that holds its spherical shape and has a surface that is both smooth and glossy.

Designed by the Jardan Lab team, Nelly took home the 2022 Top Design Winner in the Accent Lamp Category at the European Product Design Awards — an organisation that recognises the efforts of talented international product and industrial designers who aim to improve our daily lives with their practical, well-thought-out and aesthetically pleasing creations. Taking inspiration from the relaxed, Australian way of life, Jardan’s approach to innovation is the driving force of the company, and this award is recognition for a truly unique design by the Jardan team.

As a family-owned Australian business that has been operating since 1987, every piece of Jardan furniture and lighting has been crafted in Victoria. Made with care and precision by hand, each design is meticulously shaped to the best standards. Nelly is no different — its simplicity is anything but ordinary, and the fact it is handmade in Victoria only adds to its composure. Available in four distinct colourways — Rust, Oat, Olive and now Mist — Nelly is a versatile table and wall light range designed to suit any space.

Illuminated by a hand-blown glass matte sphere that beautifully contrasts its glossy ceramic glaze, Jardan’s Nelly light evokes a feeling of calm yet playfulness and is now available in a cool and soothing Mist blue.