Meet The Truncheons

If you haven’t heard of Cmmnwlth (or Commonwealth) yet, do your self a favor, and make a bookmark. Founded by Zoe Coombes and David Boira, Cmmnwlth is a furniture, art and design studio based in an industrial building in Williamsburg, New York. They harness a new fluidity enabled by machine languages, and their interests are as material and emotional as they are technical. Working within the worlds of contemporary art and industrial furniture design, Cmmnwlth aims to produce work that embodies a sense of elegant desire through an engagement with both the newest of tools and the oldest of techniques. Each of their products is a true piece of art.

Following the success of their projects Butcher Block, made for Headspace 2010: On Scent as Design; a symposium curated by Paola Antonelli, Department of Architecture and Design (MoMA) and Laetitia Wolff of Futureflair; sensible Lard furniture series, sensual Morfinas in Bronze door handles, fluid Tropism Vases done in collaboration with Joshua Davis, just to name a few, we’re excited to see their new work, The Truncheons. The Truncheons are a family of lamps consisting of a suspension, an articulated task lamp, and a freestanding Truncheon to be rested against a wall.

This is how Zoe & David describe their new family of lamps:

Harnessing the tooled traces left by a CNC lathe, the Truncheon body is surfaced with a delicate, metered scallop. At close viewing, the rhythm of this cross-grain scalloping creates a soft interplay with the more linear wood grain of the maple and walnut. Each lamp holds an LED bulb which is warm in color, yet cool to the touch. Viewed indirectly from the lamp’s interior hardwood surfaces, the light emitted is rich in quality while maintaining the efficient characteristics that has driven the development of LED light.

The Truncheon task lamp sits in a poured, weighted base of gypsum and marble. Free of electrical components, the heavy base allows the arm of the lamp to make a soft rotation. Avoiding unnecessary knobs or switches, the Truncheons adhere to their namesake – precise, compact sticks fashioned out of traditional materials.

Truncheon Suspension Lamp-
Walnut, or Maple, warm LED tube.

Truncheon Floor Lamp-
Walnut, or Maple, warm LED tube.

Truncheon Task Lamp-
Maple with Fordacal base, warm LED tube.

Manufactured by MatterMade.
Available exclusively at MATTER New York.
Photography by JeanCharles Tomas.