Enchanting Chandeliers Swarm With Schools of Ceramic Fish

A close-up of the golden fish composing a chandelier by Scabetti

Close-up of Shoal743 at Fishmonger Hall, London Bridge. (Photo: Johnny Fenn)

There’s something charming—if not enchanting—about furniture that incorporates animal themes. In this genre, there have been bars shaped like hippos, lamps resembling crocodiles, chairs inspired by a peacock’s plumage, and, in Scabetti’s case, chandeliers in the form of fish.

In 2007, the U.K.-based design studio unveiled its Shoal collection at the London Design Festival. Since then, the series has grown to encompass several textures, forms, and moods, but its fundamental visuals have remained the same: lighting pieces surrounded by swarms of sculpted fish. Scabetti’s original Shoal lights, for instance, incorporate hundreds and sometimes thousands of fish crafted from fine bone china, their translucent, ceramic bodies capturing the light as if swimming through water.

In the two decades since its launch, Shoal has attracted international attention, prompting Dominic and Frances Bromley, the duo behind Scabetti, to create specially-commissioned pieces within the collection. One fixture designed for a property in Verbier, Switzerland, snakes over a dining table, the fish curving beside one another into a fluid formation. Shoal no8 is similarly ambitious and yet assumes an even more monumental scale. Located inside Fisketorvet Mall in Copenhagen, the circular work is suspended in the air, the fish packed so tightly together that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish them. The silhouette reminds us of actual schools of fish, especially those that travel in enormous groups, like sardines, mackerels, and anchovies.

Scabetti has also produced Shoal lights with gold coating. Aptly titled Goldfish, these limited edition works cast a warmer glow than those rendered in ceramic, while the fish themselves also procure a sumptuous glimmer. There are even Shoal adaptations in glass, in which each fish is kiln-formed over the original fish sculpt for the classic bone china Shoal. Thanks to their materiality, these glass pieces can take several different colors, such as red.

Aside from these fishy works, Scabetti has also created chandeliers featuring miniature human sculptures, their heads gently turned toward the light as if ascending toward a higher plane of existence. Cibola Shallot finds inspiration in the many layers of an onion, while Drawn to the Light mimics mobiles from the 1950s.

“Regardless of scale, our approach is to produce beautifully considered, sometimes quirky, but always desirable objects, made with pride and quality as locally as possible,” the Bromleys write.

To learn more about the Shoal collection, visit the Scabetti website.