WOVEN SHADE AS MUSHROOM CAP | Three Original Shapes from Twenty One Tonnes

WOVEN SHADE AS MUSHROOM CAP | Three Original Shapes from Twenty One Tonnes

Did you know that we named our three original woven light shade designs after mushrooms? The Bonnet, the Fawn, and the Landslide pendants take their forms and names from Mycena galericulata, Pluteus cervinus, and Psilocybe caerulescens. Our craft partners at SWOPA weave each piece in Sirigu, a village in Ghana’s Upper East Region, and though we have made slight alterations over the years, these original fungal forms have largely remained the same.


BONNET | Mycena galericulata

Twenty One Tonnes Bonnet Pendant Light was inspired by the shape of a bonnet mushroom cap
image credits (L) Dan Molter via Mushroom Observer; (R) Ilya Yashin via New York Mycological Society

The Bonnet Pendant takes its name from Mycena galericulata, known as the common bonnet, the toque mycena, or the rosy-gill fairy helmet. The cap of this mushroom ranges from grayish brown to dark brown, and its shape ranges from bell-like to bluntly conical. Our woven Bonnet shade follows the conical end of that range. It is a classic to tall cone that narrows toward the top and opens at the base, and it directs light downward in a warm pool. That focus is why the Bonnet works over a bar or a dining table, where the light needs to land on the surface below. The women of SWOPA, the Sirigu Women’s Organization for Pottery and Art, weave each Bonnet shade in Sirigu, a village in Ghana’s Upper East Region.



FAWN | Pluteus cervinus

The fawn mushroom's shape inspired Twenty One Tonnes' fawn pendant light and woven fawn light shade
image credit Michael Wood via Fungi of California Index

The Fawn Pendant takes its name from Pluteus cervinus, also called the deer shield, the deer mushroom, or the fawn mushroom. The species name cervinus means “deer-like,” and it refers to the color of the cap. This cap is broad, flat and undulating, and it spreads in an umbel-like form. To mimic that shape, the women of SWOPA weave a flat disc with waves incorporated into the weave itself. The small Fawn hangs relatively flat, the medium has a slight drape, and the large folds into a deeper drape, so each size carries the mushroom’s undulation at a different depth.


LANDSLIDE | Psilocybe caerulescens

The landslide mushroom inspired the shape of Twenty One Tonnes' woven Landslide pendant light
images credits (L) unknown via Mushroom Spot; (R) Jimmy Craine via Mushroom Observer

The Landslide Pendant takes its name from Psilocybe caerulescens, also known as the landslide mushroom. Its cap is conical with undulating waves. To emulate this organic form, the weavers construct a broad cone in Sirigu, which we then shape by hand into landslide-like waves in the Twenty One Tonnes studio in LA. The hand-formed waves vary from one Landslide to the next, which is a feature we love.


To see these three shapes side by side you can book a virtual or in-person studio appointment. Come visit!

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