The candle Michèle Lamy designed looks right at home in the Paris apartment she shares with fashion designer Rick Owens, its melting appearance echoing the runny wall treatments, and blending in with the earthy colors of worn, calf-hair benches, and a textile artwork by Anselm Kiefer, encrusted with paint and layers of meaning.
It also looks a bit like the rippled skin of their hairless Sphynx cat Pixie, who casually loped by the candle during a photo shoot, and purred her way into an interview.
Pixie the cat next to the candle.
Clément Souchet
Considered a limited-edition art object, the candle is the first volley of House By, which bills itself as an independent maker of exclusive objects that live outside traditional design categories. The striking creation by Lamy — House By’s first guest creative — is certainly worlds away from the scented-wax-in-glass-vessel template.
Inspired by a cherished piece of petrified wood, the candle also seems to carry the torch for alternative beauty she and Owens treasure, promote and cultivate with their various creative expressions.
Considered Object 001, the candle drops online at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 in a limited-edition of 700 and retails for 840 euros. It rests on a brass base with a bronze finish and comes packaged in a wooden crate with a magnetic closure.
The grand dining room at the home of Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy.
Clément Souchet
“I always like something new,” said Lamy, a cofounder of Owenscorp, artist and furniture designer. “I was super excited to work with wax.”
Relishing her research at Cire Trudon, she settled on an organic, long-burning wax that cannot be scented. “I was very happy about that, even if I love perfume,” she said in an interview, sipping tea from a tall glass, one of the candles burning steadily on a bench to her right.
“Unity, togetherness — like being around a fire,” is how Lamy described the comfort of its steady flame, almost spiritual given the association with the votives found in churches. “I’m not religious candle-wise, but it can be more abstract, like lighting a candle in hopes of a better world,” she said.
Lamy’s mesmerizing candle, which burns for up to 400 hours, arrives amid heightened consumer interest in home decor, and objects with unique craftsmanship and a back story,
“House By’s main goal is to start by exchanging ideas with creators before talking about specific designs. It’s about an idea, a project, a concept,” said Philippe Pérès, who cofounded the venture with Gérard Mialet. The two men have long experience in the fields of design, furniture and e-commerce, relishing the challenge of turning a creative idea into a finely hewn object.
Gérard Mialet and Philippe Pérès
Clément Souchet
Pérès, well known in furniture and design circles as founder of the now defunct Domeau & Pérès, argued that “limited editions not only create rarity but also allow for more creative freedom and craftsmanship. We’re also thinking about avoiding overproduction of objects.”
House By is planning one release every two months during its “break-in period,” according to Mialet.
“Then as soon as our community is established, we will increase to one drop per month to reach our cruising speed of several drops per month, which will all be different while being similar,” he said. Initially, objects will be sold only on its website, “but we do not exclude anything, including pop-ups or co-branding,” Mialet noted. “It is the object that will determine the relevance of the distribution.”
Mialet noted Lamy’s object was “also designed with an ephemeral and renewable, sensual side because we can re-order the candle part.” Not that it’s a must.
Lamy loved Swiss artist Urs Fischer’s 2021 show at Bourse de Commerce in Paris, where wax replicas of Renaissance sculptures, office chairs and an effigy of artist Rudolf Stingel slowly burned.
“I loved that show, from the first little light until the end where there was almost nothing left. I think that’s the beauty of it,” she said.
Michèle Lamy and the limited-edition candle she designed.
Clément Souchet
