Glowing Up: How Lee Broom Created the Cascade Collection with Spanish Porcelain House Lladró

At Milan Design Week, British designer Lee Broom at his installation launching a new lighting collection. 

One of the highlights of this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan, amid the vast halls of Euroluce where LEDs blink, gleam, and dazzle, was a quieter, more immersive installation that stopped visitors in their tracks. A hush emanated from a mirrored space where porcelain lanterns glowed. There, British designer Lee Broom unveiled Cascade, his latest lighting collection and his first collaboration with Spanish porcelain house Lladró, writes Antonio Visconti

The designer visited Lladro's

porcelain works in Valencia,

to oversee the creation of the 

new lights.

LEE BROOM, celebrated for his theatrical, often high-drama approach to lighting design, doesn't shy away from spectacle. His past Milan presentations have included moving installations, immersive soundtracks, and surreal, crystalline displays. Yet the new design for the Cascade lights, signal a turn toward a more contemplative, almost meditative approach.

"When Lladró asked me to collaborate on a collection, I wanted to explore how light emanates through porcelain and how I could interpret this in a way that was reminiscent of paper lanterns illuminated by candlelight," explains the designer.  

"Having explored the use of mirrors with many of my installations, for the Lladró Euroluce presentation I decided to revisit the idea of optical illusion to create a cascade of lanterns in a joyous moment of light.”

The collection is composed of three pendant shapes and a compact table lamp, all handcrafted in Lladró’s workshops in Valencia, Spain. The pieces draw inspiration from traditional paper lanterns, those humble and enduring icons of festivity, memory, and ritual, particularly in East and Southeast Asia.

"I wanted the light to evoke an emotional response and bring that sense of joy as lanterns do at commemorative events, especially when hung in clusters,” Broom said.

The lantern references are subtle, filtered through Broom’s signature lens of geometry and proportion. The forms are pared down: spherical and cylindrical volumes rendered in matte white porcelain. The glow is internal and warm, reminiscent not of modern lighting but of candlelight. 

"I wanted to explore how light emanates through porcelain and how I could interpret this in a way that was reminiscent of paper lanterns illuminated by candlelight."

Lee Broom holds the new porcelain

lamps that when strung together

 form a "cascade" of light. 

The decision to work in porcelain ~ a notoriously delicate and temperamental medium ~ was not taken lightly.  The British designer has not worked with the material before, and he found it quite different to glass and metal. Porcelain changes in the kiln and as it dries so there is element of unpredictability and imperfection.

Porcelain, particularly unglazed, also takes light differently. It absorbs, diffuses, and softens it, rather than reflecting or amplifying. For Broom, who often works with reflective materials, this posed a creative and technical challenge. 

The pieces had to emit light evenly while maintaining structural integrity. To achieve the desired effect, Lladró’s artisans used precise layering techniques and complex internal LED configurations to maintain both warmth and consistency.

Broom’s approach to product design is often inspired from his early background in fashion and theatre. His Milan installations have become something of a cult draw, each year more ambitious in scope. From his famously recreated brutalist church interior in a Milanese courtyard to a dreamlike mirrored labyrinth punctuated by celestial forms.

But Cascade avoids overt narrative. Instead, the installation with mirrored walls and ceiling conjured an infinity of floating lanterns. The effect was all enveloping and yet tranquil. Visitors paused, phones momentarily forgotten, drawn into the experience.

The ability to shift tone so deftly speaks to Broom’s confidence as a designer. Rather than repeating a signature look, he has chosen to experiment with material and mood. It is not, he insists, a pivot away from his aesthetic roots, but an expansion. Not everything has to be bold to command attention.

"For the Lladró Euroluce presentation I decided to revisit the idea of optical illusion to create a cascade of lanterns in a joyous moment.”

While the pendant lights are designed

to be modular, there is also a compact

moon-like table lamp that casts a warm

glow on its surroundings. 

Beyond its poetic presence, Cascade also reveals a strategic versatility. The pendant lights are designed to be modular, allowing users to build vertical compositions of varying lengths, a nod to the way traditional lanterns are often strung together in sequences. 

The table lamp, portable and compact, brings the same ethereal glow to smaller spaces, suggesting a range of domestic and hospitality applications.

This flexibility is intentional. While the design is rooted in craft, it is also made with contemporary living in mind. The lights are powered by low-energy LED technology, and the modular system allows for customization. 

Yet what sets the design of Cascade apart from other modular lighting systems is its emotional dimension. The lights are not just fixtures but have a certain presence. Whether in clusters or standing alone, they seem to hum with a quiet life of their own.

Lladró, founded in 1953, has been undergoing a subtle reinvention in recent years. Known for its elaborate porcelain figurines and classical style, the brand has increasingly turned toward lighting and contemporary design collaborations to broaden its relevance. Previous partnerships with designers such as Marcel Wanders hinted at this new direction, and Cascade is part of the realignment.

The designer visited the Valencia factory during the development process, observing traditional techniques, experimenting with forms, and pushing the boundaries of what porcelain could achieve.

The pendant designs allow users to build

their own vertical compositions of light. 

Indeed, much of the success the new design stems from the genuine creative exchange between designer and maker. 

Broom visited Lladró’s factory during the development process, observing traditional techniques, experimenting with forms, and pushing the boundaries of what porcelain could achieve.

As Milan Design Week drew to a close, the design press began compiling its lists of highlights: the flashiest tech, the boldest forms, the most photographed rooms. 

Yet Cascade lingered in memory for different reasons. It didn’t demand attention but rather invited reflection.

In a cultural moment oversaturated with image and immediacy, Broom's porcelain lamps feel like a pause button. A whisper rather than a headline. And in the context of Milan ~ where bigger often means better ~ that restraint might just be its boldest gesture.