The Hanging Lamp, designed by Muller Van Severen for valerie objects, is a compellingly innovative luminaire defined by a modern and simple design with a unique touch of playfulness. Inspired by a lamp Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen designed for their own home, the Hanging Lamp consists of a wall-mounted metal tube and a classic cone-shaped glass shade. The minimalist luminaire's gist lies in the extreme simplicity of the metal tube – as if someone had just drawn it in the air with a crayon. This adds a touch of whimsy to the almost industrial look of the lamp, making it a fascinating, distinctive and unique addition to any space. Over the years, the Hanging Lamp has grown into a whole collection of distinctive luminaires, all characterized by the same recognizable, minimalistic expression.

Although most design lovers know Muller Van Severen for their furniture, the design couple’s story actually kicked off with the conception of these hanging lamps. It all started out of necessity. Hannes explains. "We were working in our new home which is an old house. A socket in the ceiling above the table was missing to plug in a light source, so we designed a lamp that could hang from the wall."

The first prototypes were shown at Muller Van Severen’s very first solo exhibition in 2011. During that exhibition, Fien and Hannes filled the gallery space Valerie Traan of Veerle Wenes (art director of valerie_objects) with designs that looked as if somebody took a set of crayons and started drawing in the air. This is in fact exactly how these lamps should be interpreted, as seemingly naive drawings materialized into real life.

Like all Muller Van Severen’s furniture, the hanging lamps add a sober but colorful line to the interior. At the end of that line, there’s a lightbulb, “with a lampshade we initially dug up at a flee market”, Hannes fills in. “It is a fantastic lampshade: perfectly neutral. Luckily we found a company who was able to produce it”.