Sand is what Montera is printed from and also what breaks up the glow of its two concealed LEDs, so the material of this table lamp from Blanca Codina, based in Brooklyn, New York, becomes part of its light.
A hat and a floor. The design of Montera takes both from Spain: its outline follows the montera, the bullfighter's hat, and its grainy surface recalls the arena floor of a plaza de toros. One reference gives the table lamp its shape, the other its skin. Codina describes the piece as one that "pays homage to my roots and celebrates Spain's cultural heritage." The hat is a traditional symbol; the lamp turns it into a contemporary object.
The manufacture points the other way, toward the present. Montera is produced through binder-jet 3D printing, a process that forms the lamp straight out of sand. The print is not the last step: every piece is then finished by hand to bring out the natural texture of the sand and the particular character of each one. The version shown here is Bone White, in ceramic sand; a blue version comes in quartz sand, and other standard colourways are available. The lamp stands 14 inches high, 12.5 wide and 7.5 deep. It launched in May 2026 and is available through Otras Formas.
The two LEDs sit out of sight and give a warm light, adjustable through an in-line dimmer. Their soft glow falls across the lamp's own form and onto whatever surrounds it. Here the sand takes on a second job. "The textured sand subtly reflects and fragments the light," the studio writes, and the curves of the object decide where light ends and shadow begins, drawing out depth and materiality.
Everything comes back to sand. It stands in for the arena floor, the printer binds it into shape, and the light breaks across it. The studio sums it up in one line: "Sand acts as a bridge between past and present, embodying both memory and innovation." The line can be taken literally. The lamp is printed from sand.
