Peter Bowles has an eye for details: as a kid, he watched the machines at his father’s factories exact their specifications; as a young man, he worked the line at a French culinary manufacturer. He eventually returned to his native UK and, in 1990, launched the lighting company Original BTC, quickly finding success by rethinking even the most intricate details—in this case, the plastic flex on pendant lights, which he swapped out for a chic cotton braid that became the brand’s signature.
His latest offering, the Pebble Pendant, carries on Original BTC’s legacy while pushing the limits of modern production. Its graceful shade, with a simple repetition of organic shapes, looks self-contained. In fact, it’s a union of some 48 forms in three discrete designs. These “pebbles” are 3D resin printed at Original BTC’s studio in the Cotswolds market town of Witney, before heading a couple hours north to the company’s heritage bone china factory in Stoke-on-Trent to be biscuit-fired for a matte-texture patina.
The bone china discs are then attached to the brass frame and ceiling rose. “We worked with a specialist, bespoke wire manufacturer in Yorkshire to create the 450mm diameter frame,” says Original BTC director Charlie Bowles, son to Peter. “The frame is geometrically tuned to ensure that the interlocking pebbles neither touch one another, nor allow a direct view of the light bulb.” And the classic cotton-braided cable, in gray, finishes the fixture, also available as a flush-mounted ceiling light—another example of how small touches achieve big impact.
