Bec Brittain’s SHY Light made of LED tubes for Matter are reminiscent of our playful days with K’NEX. The tubes can be detached and re-configured for endless configuration options.

Let’s recall our years of youth, specifically our formative years when team sports was considered the to-do as the after-school norm. Our nine-year old selves gathered around soccer fields and basketball courts as our coaches taught us the basic principals of what makes an organization, of what essentially makes a team. Some of us listened passionately, mentally noting down what was needed to make a great pass, while some, let’s be honest, were prone to daydreaming and annoying our friends. Nevertheless, our coaches tried to imbue us as best they could with the golden rule: there is no “I” in team. To succeed we had to work together in whatever position we were placed or in whatever order we came up to play.

Jason Miller’s Endless Lighting system defies space with limitless arrangements for the wall or hanging configurations.

We now know that our coaches wouldn’t lead us astray. After all, pop culture has proven to us that the most popular musicians, artists and casts would not be successful without the integrity of each part of a successful team. Would the Beatles be the Beatles without their essential four, would Andy Warhol have reached stardom without his entourage at The Factory, and would the crew of Friends be the same if they were missing a friend? Of course, we know that some of these pop culture references have more cultural importance than others, but the point is, without the entire ensemble of these groups as a whole, they wouldn’t be the same. Because one without the other does not make them great, but together as a whole they shine brighter.

TOP: Camp in the great indoors with Paula Sevilla’s Home Camping, a collection of porcelain hanging flashlights. BOTTOM: A naked bulb never looked so good: Frame cluster chandeliers by Iacoli & McAllister come in a variety of colors, frame and light sizes, and configurations.

We were thinking about how this strength in cohesion philosophy relates to modular design when we happened to come across several customizable pendant light fixtures that have recently come on the market. Each of them seem to embody the lesson of team playing in subordinating the part to the whole, thus making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. And of course, as is generally the case with modular and customizable design, the fixtures can be more easily harmonized with the physical parameters of the surrounding space by adjusting their size, color or shape than the static design typical of most fixtures.

Thanks, Coach. You really were the brightest bulb in the bunch.