In his workshop in Montbron, Charente, Francis “Fantôme” Terrade sculpts light through lamps that are as much characters as they are objects. Their creator has walked many paths before turning to the work of matter: a world tour with the French Navy at the age of twenty, years spent as a lighting designer for live performance, and an immersion in an abandoned factory alongside dozens of artists and artisans.

It was with two sculptors of statuary that he first discovered, in the early 1990s, the taste for representing the human body—especially the female form. “Philosophically, I believe that light comes from women,” he confides. His lamps extend this conviction with expressive shapes, elongated or contorted, always imbued with tenderness for the human figure. Geometric forms, a nod to decorative art, have also emerged over the past decade.

His favored material is copper, heated almost to its melting point and then shaped, always combined with tin. Originally plumbing pipe, it becomes skeleton, body, movement. Each piece results from a variety of techniques, sometimes invented. Special attention is given to the shades of the metal, ranging from red to green, culminating in a final patina that reveals its depth.

Francis’s lamps do more than illuminate—they interact with light itself. The bare, transparent bulb reflects in a discreet gilding, diffusing a warmth reminiscent of flame. A reflector-hat crowns these silhouettes, capturing the flow and returning a golden clarity.

Table lamps, wall lights, suspensions… each of his works is a unique piece. Yet it is above all the lamp-sculptures he cherishes: true copper and light characters, both precious and raw, that transform space and bear the imprint of a singular spirit.

From this approach are born expressive, timeless objects that tell the story of a life’s journey: from the stage to the workshop, from the light of performance to the light that inhabits our homes.