At molo, we treat light as a material, similar to wood or paper. With textural qualities and the ability to shape how we experience space, both natural and artificial light play a leading role in how we feel within any given environment.
When looking for lighting solutions at home and for workspaces, textile lamps are an ideal choice for their ability to cast ambient lighting. Long celebrated for their ability to diffuse light to create soft indoor lighting, lamps with a paper-like quality are a popular design element in Scandinavian and East Asian countries.
Our collection of sculptural lamps are inspired by traditional paper lanterns, and is designed to interact with light – with shadow, texture, and colour – to form a room and stir a feeling. In this way, light becomes not just practical illumination, but an emotional aspect of the architecture itself.
Humans and animals are instinctively aware of light. It affects how we feel, focus, and rest, even when we’re unaware of it. Research shows that poor indoor lighting, especially low-quality artificial light, can interrupt our mood, concentration and circadian rhythm.
Do you ever notice feeling tired or unmotivated by the lighting in certain places? It could be due to the almost undetectable flicker of LEDs. Though they may go unnoticed by the eye, our bodies register the strain.
We work with light in ways that honour its effects on both space and the people who inhabit it. To support wellbeing and visual clarity, all of our non-woven textile pendants and lamps are made with high-quality, energy-efficient +90 CRI LEDs. These light sources replicate the vividness of natural daylight, allowing colours and textures to be seen with more accuracy.
colour temperatures
Choosing textile lamps for the home will vary slightly from what you might select for workspaces. Depending on desired needs, purpose, and goals, we offer three specific colour temperatures:
Each colour temperature results in an ambient glow, free from glare or hotspots, and invites calm, clarity and a deeper connection to one’s surroundings.
Each lamp is designed with your senses in mind: touch, sight and sound. Playing an essential role in shaping both space and atmosphere, sound is as integral to the experience of a room as light, colour or texture.
Our collection of textile furniture is designed to absorb sound, subduing reflected noise within a space. Designed with an internal honeycomb core, the pleated surface naturally provides acoustic absorption, enhancing your auditory experience.
When suspended or grouped together, our lamps and mobiles have a greater ability to muffle sound within a space. Acting as acoustic panels, they make excellent additions in workspaces, offices, playrooms and public areas where buffers are required.
Both pendant and mobile versions of cloud softlight have a Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) rating of 0.45. By taking in 45% of sound in an environment, the presence of one or many lamps helps with clarity of speech and provides a clearer, calmer space for focused work and conversation.
When adding textile lamps designed to reduce noise and cast ambient lighting, the natural result is a calm, restful and productive space.
molo offers adaptable paper-like lamps as individual pendants or suspended mobiles in a translucent white shade.
White is a traditional and intentional choice for paper lamps. It reflects and diffuses light, creating softer, ambient lighting that fills a space without harsh glare. Similarly, our lamps take on a quiet luminosity and a living quality when lit from within.
Crafted from recyclable, non-woven polyethylene (HDPE), each of molo’s lamps has the delicate appearance of a paper lampshade. The material is tear- and water-resistant, dust-repellent, and easily cleanable. It's anti-static properties prevent dust build-up and the appearance of wear over time. Custom-made for molo, the studio has chosen this material because it stays consistently clean and white with extended use. It is easy to care for and can be gently dusted, vacuumed, or wiped clean with water and mild soap, if necessary.
A paper-like light design concept which creates a canopy of soft, luminous forms. Available as individual pendants or suspended mobiles, cloud provides diffused light and a sense of intimate enclosure. Grouping pendants and mobiles together creates vast, sculptural skyscapes.
cloud softlight mobile redefines space through gentle movement and an intimate sense of enclosure. Each cloud pendant attaches to the mobile structure by a single point, softly bobbing and revolving with shifting air currents.
cloud mast is a floor-supported luminaire. The vertical mast is crowned by a boom that holds a cloud mobile in shifting balance with a large fishing weight, an elegant alternative to wiring the mobiles to a ceiling. As air currents shift, the paper-like lampshades rise and fall like ships floating on gentle seas. The weight responds to each change, locked in a perpetual search for equilibrium. This natural rhythm creates an enthralling visual and the comforting sense of lounging under a tree.
A sculptural lamp that expands and morphs into playful shapes as you manipulate it with your hands, urchin is a malleable light created to mirror the curious motion of a sea creature, lending the luminary its unique name. Many of its possible forms call to mind traditional Japanese paper lanterns. Small shifts through the various shapes have a poetic affect on emotion and light intensity.
Made from the same translucent white polyethylene textile material as textile softwall + softblock, these adaptable textile lamps can be paired together with other elements of the soft collection to create fluid, sculptural environments.
watch film: urchin softlight in motion
As we move through rooms, buildings, and seasons, we are constantly in relationship with shifting light – its warmth, rhythm and texture quietly shaping how we feel and function. When we use light with intention, we synchronize ourselves with these natural transitions, creating spaces that support our changing needs.
Light, colour and material perform a powerful sequence in a space, infusing it with mood and meaning. When working together, these elements transform homes, studios, and workplaces into living environments. Spaces that are not only functional, but also expressive and alive.
Introducing ambient lighting into your surroundings is a simple yet transformative gesture. A beautiful textile lamp offers a way to soften and sculpt light with a timeless elegance. Whether for work, rest or reflection, these adaptable lamps adjust to life alongside you.
What would happen if you reimagined the lighting in the spaces you inhabit?
decades of study
Over three decades, Forsythe + MacAllen have been studying the concept of flexible spacing making and its impact on how we live and work. Multiple iterations of the groundbreaking soft collection have been utilized and featured in over 100 institutions worldwide, including the MoMA and the Nobel Prize Museum. Explore the full collection: