Josh Neretin and Buoyant NYC Redefine Elegant Simplicity in Sculptural Lighting
Left: Josh Neretin, owner and designer at lighting studio Buoyant NYC, at ICFF. Right: The Buoyant collection of hand-built pendant lights and sconces. |
Josh Neretin
and Buoyant NYC
Redefine Elegant Simplicity
in Sculptural Lighting
by Benjamin Genocchio
Photography courtesy Buoyant NYC
Josh Neretin loves the process of creation. He's been doing it his whole life, beginning as a child and leading to studies as a visual artist before moving into constructing high-end interiors in New York. Opening a shop, he began fabricating artworks for artists and museums, which led to work as a preparator for the Guggenheim Museum. Years later, he returned to his artistic endeavors forming Buoyant NYC, a company that designs and fabricates custom light fixtures in Brooklyn, New York. He has won numerous awards and today is a sought-after designer of customized lighting. Incollect spoke with him at his Brooklyn studio about his love of materials and making.
Buoyant’s display at ICFF 2019, with the award-winning Della sconce shown at center. |
Did you ever imagine that one day you would become a successful lighting designer?
Not really. I attended art school, majoring in sculpture, and figured I would continue doing that after school. Making my way in New York, I fell into construction, working for architects and interior designers as a means to support my artistic endeavors. This work and process taught me a great deal about designing and fabricating with specific utilitarian goals in mind. Our construction shop in Brooklyn also began engineering and fabricating artwork for artists and museums.
Buoyant’s Flow Pendant presents a rich and stylish mix of materials: flame-worked walnut, a Kinwashi rice paper overlay, and a brass cage diffuser that emits a warm glow. |
How and where did you get your first big break?
Fast forward many years…I started Buoyant NYC in earnest around 2014 and participated in the ICFF and AD shows in New York around that same time. My collection consisted almost exclusively of limited-edition, sculptural lighting pieces. I received positive editorial coverage at several of these early shows and found my audience, and it just grew from there. I was honored and lucky enough to receive attention from Interior Design magazine’s Best of Year and NYCxDesign programs. These awards and the great publicity surrounding them further bolstered my brand.
How would you describe your aesthetic sensibility?
I find myself working at creating elegant, simple work that maintains a certain sophistication. Without pointing directly to historically significant objects, some of my work has atavistic tendencies that hint at primitive or ancestral themes, motifs, and styles.
Casting process steps for the Heirloom Pendant x-shaped diffuser. |
Do you make everything yourself?
I either make or oversee the fabrication of everything in my collection. For the glass elements, I work closely with Brooklyn Glass, a hot shop and neon shop in Gowanus. The gaffers there are incredibly skilled. Their expertise allows me the freedom to not only experiment with creating new work but also to fulfill orders for clients. I’m involved in all of the hot work sessions, most notably when we’re casting diffusers. Each casting has its own unique personality but is the same overall shape. When creating clusters of the same piece, there’s an organic synergy and balance between them. I also go out of my way to use metal manufacturing shops in the United States. Sometimes, they are local, but I also engage shops in Wisconsin, California, and Texas. I really enjoy that process, and I’m pretty sure these vendors are baffled by my initial correspondence. But they end up loving the process as well.
Tell us about your design process.
I love the process of sketching and find myself at it all the time. Once a sketched design strikes me, it becomes a live mockup. This is a long process but I do my best thinking when working with materials, and this process also informs the production of the final design. Once I have something fabricated, I install it at home and live with it for a while. During this time, I will also make changes to the design and reinstall it. Once I feel it is working, the details are finalized and I create shop drawings so I can fabricate the final pieces.
The Heirloom Pendant, a limited edition cast glass fixture with a hand-worked “x” shape diffuser suspended by a leather sling, is available in a variety of finishes. |
What is your most popular design?
The Heirloom pendant is extremely popular right now, especially with hospitality clients, and it has happened almost 5 years after this piece was released. I attribute part of this surge to the post-pandemic renovation movement. Over the past few years, I’ve made many Heirloom pieces for different clients, and they are always customized for their specific projects. With this piece, as with most of my work, there are differences in each piece when creating multiples for an installation. The casting process allows each glass diffuser to be similar but singular. The leather parts are also specific to each piece. This makes for a very organic and impactful installation. There has also been more interest in the Della sconce, which was designed to use CNC-milled stone as its feature. I’ve made these sconces in onyx, Carrara marble, and quartzite. It is a versatile piece.
Do you do commissions for clients?
Absolutely, and I especially enjoy that part of the business process, given my background in collaborating with architects, interior designers, and artists for interiors and special installations.
Otherworldly Orbs of Light: The Fisher Stones Pendant/Sconce’s hand-blown, sandblasted globes are suspended over a satin brass or aluminum reflector disk and are fully customizable. |
Who are some of the designers you have worked with?
I have had the pleasure and good fortune of working with many talented and thoughtful Interior designers. Two favorites that come to mind are the installation of 2 Stones pendants in a beautiful Miami Home for the design firm Citizen Artist. For KSA, I just shipped out a few custom Heirloom pendants (as sconces) to a hospitality client in the UAE for possible inclusion in a Dubai-based boutique hotel, which came to me through David Rockwell’s office.
What inspires you as a designer?
Museum, gallery, and showroom hopping feed my imagination, but I am also a big fan of antiquated and archaeological works. Viewing objects through a maker’s lens, with an eye toward the artist’s intent and how they created it, feeds my thinking. I draw from a diverse range of influences like Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period, as well as the contemporary designs of my peers.
Which artists and designers do you admire?
I admire many design brands and visual artists who are creating beautiful and thoughtful work. Each brand tells its own story, perfectly conveyed in the most skillful way with stunning results. Everything I enjoy looking at is linked to seeing that artist’s hand, personal narrative, and grace.
Josh Neretin |
917.450.3454 |
Instagram: @buoyantnyc |