People have been clamoring for Ana Kraš’s Bonbon lamps since 2010, when, as a college student, she debuted them at the Salone Satellite showcase in Milan. The idea for them had come the prior year: Kraš had an imperfect shade frame on her hands that she rescued by knitting thread over it in color-blocked geometric patterns that looked good enough to eat.
“Architects wanted to put them in their projects; companies offered to produce them—it was overwhelming,” says the Serbian-born, New York-based multihyphenate, whose work spans fashion, art, and design. She made Bonbons only for special projects until she met Mette and Rolf Hay, cofounders of the Danish-inspired home furnishings company HAY, in 2016. They, too, liked the lamps. Kraš felt a special connection with the couple and decided the time had come.
In June, HAY will release the Bonbons stateside in its Portland and Costa Mesa stores. The wool-nylon yarn—leftover material from the Serbian knitwear brand Ivko—is hand-applied to the powder-coated steel frame string by string. Each lamp requires up to 40 hours of focused labor and is produced by artisan women in Ukraine. “I made the first prototypes and sent them the color patterns,” Kraš says. “They’re doing such a great job—even better than me!”