Palm floor lamp, Blue Green Works, Detail.

Blue Green Works

Collection Stories

We take a look at the Palm and Fibre Series of lights by Blue Green Works, the Manhattan-based design studio seeking to develop a “new American vocabulary” in lighting design.

In September 2022, during the London Design Festival, SCP launched the Palm Series of lights by Manhattan-based design studio, Blue Green Works. The company is the brainchild of Creative Director Peter B Staples, who founded it in 2020 alongside longtime friend and collaborator James McAvey, as Head of Operations, and Dan Persechini, as Design Director. Having all worked together variously at The Future Perfect and lighting brand Apparatus, the trio bring a wealth of experience and energy to this latest venture to come out of New York’s vibrant design scene.

SCP are now supplying both of Blue Green Works’ inaugural collections, Palm and Fibre, so we take a closer look at the stories behind their creation and explore their design and materiality.

Palm long pendant, Blue Green Works, polished steel bronze glass.
Palm sconce, Blue Green Works, satin steel bronze glass.
Palm sconce, Blue Green Works, satin steel blue glass.
Palm pendant, Blue Green Works, satin brass green glass.
Palm pendant, Blue Green Works, polished steel pigeon grey glass.
Palm floor lamp, Blue Green Works, polished steel lily pad green glass.
Palm floor lamp, Blue Green Works, polished steel lily pad green glass. Detail.

“The form of Palm was inspired by the architecture of Fire Island Pines — this beach modernism, which has a feel of 1960s Brutalism, has a softness and hardness to it at the same time.”

Peter B Staples, in Sight Unseen

In a recent interview with Sight Unseen, Staples explained his thinking behind the Palm Collection. “The form of Palm was inspired by the architecture of Fire Island Pines — this beach modernism, which has a feel of 1960s Brutalism, has a softness and hardness to it at the same time.”

Palm floor lamp, Blue Green Works. Photograph courtesy of Chris Mottalini.
Palm pendant, Blue Green Works. Photograph courtesy of Chris Mottalini.

For anyone unfamiliar with Fire Island, it is a slim car-free island with a beautiful beach that runs parallel with Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. It has been a place of retreat and leisure for New York’s gay community from at least the 1960s onwards. Pines is an area of the island that is densely populated with beach houses, many of which were built from the 1960s onwards in the modernist style.

A key architect on the island was Horace Gifford, who is now credited with transforming the pines into a haven of modernism and for also pioneering a form of sustainable architecture long before it was fashionable. Sadly, he lost his life to complications from AIDS in 1992, yet not before being responsible for around sixty homes in the area, most of which were modest in size and made from a combination of cedar wood and glass.

Evans De Pass Residence by Horace Gifford, Fire Island, 1965. Image courtesy of OfHouses.

“I wanted to create something that felt like one of those houses.” Explains Staples. “For the glass (in the Palm Collection), I wanted to create something that would remind you of the glass in an old farmhouse — that rippled look. Or the glass you find on a beach that has this beautiful softness to it. Combining that with these 60s, beach modernist forms. There was a lot of finessing of the proportions, creating the exact radius and curve, to reference the style without being too nostalgic.”

The final Palm pieces combine hand-rolled, kiln-slumped glass and precision machined steel or brass elements. They are true examples of refined ideas, beautifully made.

Palm pendant in bronze, Blue Green Works. Photograph courtesy of Chris Mottalini.

The Fibre Collection, which comprises a wall sconce and two different size pendants, also evokes the nautical feel of the Fire Island houses. “Palm has a texture that, because of the way it’s made, feels very organic. It has this varied surface and light comes through in patches, even though the material isn’t organic at all.” Says Staples.

Fibre pendant, large satin steel, Blue Green Works
Fibre pendant, large satin steel, Blue Green Works
Fibre pendant, small polished brass, detail. Blue Green Works
Fibre sconce, satin steel, Blue Green Works
Fibre sconce, satin steel, detail. Blue Green Works
Fibre sconce, satin steel, Blue Green Works

Staples’ original idea of creating a raw fibreglass piece was actually not what he wanted at all, but after months of research with a Long Island fibreglass workshop who usually work with fine artists, they finally developed something that had the right blend of solidity and transparency to successfully diffuse light. “I’m interested in design that stands out but can also recede into a room and play well with others,” Staples recently told Pin-Up magazine, and achieving a kind of duality of purpose is something that the company is clearly focused on.

Fibre wall sconce, Blue Green Works. Photograph courtesy of Chris Mottalini.
Fibre large pendant, Blue Green Works. Photograph courtesy of Chris Mottalini.

“I’m interested in design that stands out but can also recede into a room and play well with others.”

Peter B Staples, in Pin-Up Magazine.

Staples and his cohort have ambitious plans for Blue Green Works, and are intent on creating a “new American vocabulary” in lighting design. Their first collection certainly demonstrates a well-honed sensibility and a willingness to be explorative in their use of materials, and SCP is certainly looking forward to following them on the journey.

Blue Green Works Collection

Further reading