Hotaru Anniversary Edition Pendant, 2021

Hotaru Anniversary Edition Pendant by Barber Osgerby with Ozeki + Co Ltd for twentytwentyone.

To further celebrate their 25th anniversary year, twentytwentyone have collaborated with Barber Osgerby to produce a limited edition Hotaru. An edition of 25 individually hand-painted Double Bubble lanterns has been made to reference the milestone. 

“We’ve been partnering with Ozeki and twentytwentyone for many years. We were honoured to be invited to participate in the celebration of twentytwentyone’s 25th anniversary and to create a special limited edition of the Hotaru Double Bubble.” 
-Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby 

The designers selected the Double Bubble as the template for the anniversary edition with the introduction of a bold, hand-painted band that expresses the lantern’s sculptural form whilst providing a subtle decorative element. The design creates a sense of intrigue as the vertical stripe wraps the circumference of both twin orbs, the orange ochre creating a striking graphic that holds equal presence when illuminated or not. It is a design intervention that reflects Barber Osgerby’s sensitive and thoughtful approach to their work.

The design is hand-painted by craftsmen at the Ozeki workshops in Gifu Prefecture of Japan. The artists are more accustomed to decorating traditional lanterns with landscape scenes, though an equally deft skill for accuracy and managing paint on paper is essential in the Hotaru project.

“The hand-painted limited edition quietly celebrates our anniversary year in a modernist manner that compliments the form and adds a special dimension to the lantern design.”
– twentytwentyone

The longstanding relationship with Barber Osgerby began in 1996 when twentytwentyone introduced the award-winning Loop coffee table. The partnership to produce and distribute the Hotaru lighting collection began in 2015, launching at the London Design Festival with the Buoy and Double Bubble pendants. The range is manufactured by Ozeki & Co Ltd, the renowned Japanese atelier dedicated to making paper lanterns since 1891.

Named after the Japanese word for ‘firefly’, the Hotaru lighting collection draws on the heritage of Japanese lantern making. Constructed using traditional techniques, stretching translucent Mulberry-bark washi paper over a bamboo structure, the lighting collection elegantly fuses traditional craft with contemporary design.

The Hotaru collection was awarded the Design Guild Mark in 2022.