When your cute, blown-glass cups, vessels, plates, and ornaments start to catch the eye of designers like Kelly Wearstler, there’s really only one thing to do: Go bigger. So that’s exactly what Grace Whiteside of the New York design brand Sticky recently did, creating a collection of larger pieces using the same glass-blowing techniques that have defined the studio’s signature sculptural style, and opting to turn the pieces into a range of lighting designs that are just as whimsical as Sticky’s selection of smaller works.

Hand-blown by a team of LGBTQ+, POC, and female-identifying artisans in Brooklyn, the pendant and table lamps in the Sticky Lighting series include the Pokie Pendant — a milky-white sphere from which colorful glass-blown spikes protrude — and the Bubble Pendant, whose iridescent globe-shaped body, dotted with globules, is as alluring as bubble wrap. The bubbles, say Whiteside, offer a window into the heart of the pendant, allowing light to refract in different ways while also allowing a peek at the studio’s custom hardware, recently developed by friends and fellow designers Erica Sellers and Jeremy Silberberg from Studio SII. Sticky’s new Mingling Lamp — a tabletop design comprising a pair of tall rounded shapes standing back-to-back in a brass base, bulbous nodules facing outwards — exemplifies what Whiteside often refers to as “the queerness of glass.” “The Mingling Table Lights are an embrace from one body to another; they exude a sense of care and love for each other,” Whiteside explains. “The ‘sticky’ quality of glass will always be one of my favorite places to play. I love how much glass loves itself.”

As part of the studio’s mission, proceeds from all orders will be donated to an organization that “secures the safety of trans bodies, black lives, immigrant families, and individuals that are in critical need of financial support.” The studio also aims to deploy reused, recycled, or biodegradable packing materials with all its products, ensuring that the company’s future is as sustainable as it is sticky. 

Photos by M. Cooper and styling by Maxwell Runko; location designed by Le Jean Design