Straight Alouette Desk Light by Atelier Areti

Sister-led design studio Atelier Areti collaborates with expert European craftsmen to produce their object-focused collection, especially sustainably-produced, softly minimalistic light fixtures. Cleverly proportioned and functional, Areti's highly-sculptural work is striking for both its geometric simplicity and its aesthetic blend of monochromic elements with the tinted contrast of powder-coated metals and polished brass.

Atelier Areti comprises Austrian-French Gwendolyn (b. 1976) and Guillane (b. 1981) Kerschbaumer, both of whom hail from Innsbruck, Austria. Gwendolyn received her B.A in Visual Arts with a concentration in sculpture from Duke University—to be followed by graduate work at Harvard (Masters in Architecture) and at ETH Zürich (Master in Advanced Architecture Studies, Sustainable Building). Before joining forces with her sister, Gwendolyn enjoyed a number of high-profile international positions: at Peter Eisenman Architects New York, Kleiheus und Kleiheus Berlin, MVRDV Rotterdam, and Wiel Arets Architects Amsterdam, among others. Guillane completed an art foundation program in Paris before studying Art History and Archeology at Paris-Sorbonne, where she procured a DEUG; she went on to study Product Design across the English Channel at London’s Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2006.

The younger Kerschbaumer’s final Saint Martin’s project, a two-sphered glass bulb, was the tangible impetus to the sister’s eventual 2008 partnership, the year they founded Atelier Areti as a mostly London-based studio. Drawing from this prototype, the sisters debuted with Kirschlag (2008), a series of engraved crystal pendants, hand-made in collaborations with artisans in Sweden. 

Atelier Areti has been decorated with the very first Architectural Digest and MONOQI Design Award (2014).