The Marlisse Table Lamp started from a small stone lighthouse standing on a round rock at the mouth of a harbor, with rope coiled loosely on the dock beside it. We shaped the base as a plain tapering tower set on a rounded foot, and left the stone with all its pores and bands. Around the hem of the shade runs a line of loose rope loops, like a mooring line dropped in easy curls. Lit at night, the shade glows warm above the stone, the way the lighthouse does when the boats come in.

Each travertine base has its own natural pores, bands and color, so no two lamps look exactly the same.