est FEATURE USA
Light Luxury When lighting designer Michelle James and her film editor husband Tom Scherma found the house, they felt it was just about perfect. Obsession with light is a pre-requisite for Michelle’s profession and when they purchased the house in 2006 she negotiated with the owners to keep the hand-crafted chandeliers. PHOTOGRAPHY & WORDS Robyn Lea
Michelle’s career began as a celebrity fashion stylist and jewelry designer before she switched her focus to lighting and interior styling. Her instincts for form and proportion, honed during her years in fashion, were easily transposed into interior and lighting design. Her signature feature lights are made from repurposed vintage and antique fittings, salvaged crystals, milk and transparent glass globes and reading lamp globes which she then combines with multi-length brass arms to create a new whole. Each lighting fixture takes weeks to complete from sourcing the globes through to the design and finally the soldering and rewiring, which she does with the help of a Manhattan craftsman. Her one off