Time was when the candlestick maker was an important profession.
No candlestick. No light. Or at least no secure light.
These days with our fancy electric lighting candlesticks tend to be reduced to one of those quaint historical artefacts. Something every designer and craftsman tries at least once in their career, but a relatively safe place where they can experiment and try things out without necessarily having to produce anything good.
No one is going to judge you by a candlestick.
A lamp yes. An candlestick no.
The irony of the situation is that a good candlestick is very difficult to create, very difficult to get right. And so one should judge a designer by the quality of their candlestick.
The candlestick as sort of design driving licence.
Budapest based design collective AU Workshop's otherwise unnamed candlestick being displayed in the exhibition "Pure Hungarian" at Vienna Design Week 2014 passes the test.
Aesthetically with its excellently considered proportions and pleasing mix of ash and brass
And functionally in that it collects the wax that drips from above. When the original candle is finished one takes the collected drips, connects a new bit of wick and the process begins a new.
Although there are various systems for making use of old bit of candles, there are very few systems that actively collect drips, and - and as far as we are aware - none that achieve such with the grace and charm of AU Workshop's candlestick.
