IN GOOD FORM
Natural Beauties
Lighting designer and New Orleans native Julie Neill finds her inspiration right outside of her front door and into the tree-lined streets that surround her Garden District home. See how tropical landscapes and lush gardens influence this nature-inspired designer's botanical designs, just in time for spring.
A Floral Focus
“I love flowers and plants,” Neill says. “They’re happy things.” For this collaboration, Neill designed the Alberto collection, a series of best-selling floral fixtures influenced by the work of Swiss sculptor Diego Giacometti. Playful yet sophisticated, this design is a tribute to one of her favorite blooms, the Hakuun tulip.
Sculptural Beauty
Neill and her New Orleans-based team sculpt each fixture in the design phase by hand using metal frames and plaster. "I've always thought of lighting as a piece of sculpture that you hang from the ceiling and run electricity through," she says. Her renowned Alberto collection is now available in a gleaming Antique Bronze Leaf finish, as seen above.
Organic Origins
Neill's leafier Illana and Dumaine collections are true New Orleans originals: “I laugh because sometimes I see the Dumaine chandelier growing in people’s yards around town,” the designer says with a smile.
Butterfly Dreams
“I've told this story before, but it's true; I promise," says Neill. "One night, I had a dream about all these butterflies, so I woke up and just started cutting butterflies out of paper. That chandelier really designed itself." Eventually, the first spherical chandelier led to a larger butterfly lighting collection (Farfalle), including a sconce and linear chandelier. “I designed the sconce as a horizontal fixture, but some people are hanging it vertical and I love that too," she adds.
Branching Out
In The Big Easy, Mother Nature provides Neill with endless inspiration—spurring dozens of unfinished designs floating around in her head. Beyond her adoration of flowery and fanciful plants, the accomplished creative is drawn to humble, organic shapes such as a rangy unadorned oak tree branch and leaf-like forms inspiring her Mandeville collection.
