Orgues Oeuf

In cathedrals, the organ pipes rise in a tight cluster, each tuned to its note. Jacques Charles, launching his great stainless-steel lighting series in the 1960s, drew from them a sculptural column: vertical metal tubes, gathered in a bouquet, notched at mid-height to give passage to the light that rises between them like breath in the instrument. The piece comes across a whole series of table lamps, floor lamps, wall sconces and pendants. Here geometry stands in for melody.