Utzon Special Edition JU1 Pendant launched to mark 50 years of Sydney Opera House

Danish furniture manufacturer And Tradition is the custodian of various iconic Scandinavian designs, including those of Jørn Utzon's lighting. Their newly introduced edition of the JU1 pendant draws a respectful thread from Utzon's early design days to the present, while also highlighting his skill as both designer and architect. Launched as part of the Sydney Opera House's 50th anniversary, the Utzon Pendant in a new "Steel Blue" colour is the outcome of And Tradition's research into Utzon's body of work in Denmark, Spain and Australia, across which blue hues were a consistent source of inspiration to Jørn Utzon.

Utzon's lamp and the Opera House may not share the same scale or cultural gravitas, but both were born of the architect's penchant for sailboats, nature, and the sea. His 1947 lamp can be thought of as a precursor to the Opera House; the layered steel shade was inspired by the young designer's time at the shipyard where his father worked as a naval architect and his exposure to ship engineering drawings. These influences continued to inform Utzon's design oeuvre, with the Opera House representing the conceptual apex (Utzon studied nautical maps of the harbour before commencing the design). The Utzon JU1 Pendant combines four steel components constructed through deep drawing and spinning - metal-shaping techniques developed by the navy - into a lyrical, wave-like form that softly disperses light with a calculated (and typically Danish) precision.

Save a few optimizations to suit modern production, the lamp's organic silhouette has largely gone unchanged since 1947; the anniversary edition debuts a "Steel Blue" colour that Utzon loved and used in many of his buildings, including sea-side family residences in Denmark and Majorca. The curvaceous, deep-blue lacquered metal's high-gloss finish reflects light in much the same way as the sea's surface. The sheen is also reminiscent of the pearly ceramic glaze on the Opera House's Swedish-made, chevron-shaped roof tiles, which so beguilingly reflect Sydney's sky from dawn to dusk. And Tradition's creative and brand director, Els Van Hoorebeeck, said, "The more time we spent digging through archival materials, the more we saw the 'Steel Blue' shade reappear in his work. Additionally, since the Sydney Opera House is surrounded by water, 'Steel Blue' also serves as a reference to this, making the colour and high-gloss finish a wonderful tribute to its 50-year anniversary."

In conjunction with the product launch, on 19 October 2023, Jørn Utzon's design legacy was honoured with an intimate discussion hosted by And Tradition, Cult and the Utzon Centre. The lamp was displayed in the Utzon Room during the conversation, impressing upon the audience the relationship between the lighting design, the building, and the nearby sea.

With harbour views stretched behind the 200-or-so seats of the Utzon Room - one of two internal spaces entirely finished to the architect's specifications - and one of Utzon's vibrant tapestries displayed behind the panellists, there couldn't have been a more fitting space for hearing stories of Utzon's life, work and affinity with the sea. The audience was also reminded of cultural exchanges between Australia and Utzon's native Denmark … though at this celebratory occasion, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that certain exchanges needn't be revisited. Instead, tales flowed between Utzon's family members, collaborators and design custodians, forming a narrative about the poetry and passion that fuelled the architect's work.

The conversation resonated with me on many levels - I lived in Copenhagen for six years, visited Utzon's home-turned-museum in Majorca, and was raised by a seafaring father - but there is also something inherently relatable about stories of the Opera House and Utzon's design genius. The whole audience was moved by the common themes of family, friendship, and nature that underpinned every tale told about Utzon's daring project; despite being not only one of the world's most recognizable buildings but also infamous for its political and construction challenges, the Opera House is, ultimately, a deeply personal work.

The panel included architect Richard Leplastrier, who worked (and sailed) with Utzon in the 1960s; artist (and Utzon's grandson) Mika Utzon Popov; Line Nørskov Davenport, director of exhibitions at the Utzon Center in Denmark; and Els Van Hoorebeeck, And Tradition's creative and brand director. Yellowtrace's founder, Dana Tomić Hughes, moderated the conversation with reverence while Richard and Mika offered personal, heartfelt memories about Jørn Utzon's love of sailing and ways of talking about light and thinking about architecture. Among the anecdotes was one about Utzon finding design inspiration in seagulls flying across coastal land formations, exemplifying his poetic perspective. Explanations of Can Lis's sundial-esque architecture and simple amenities spoke to Utzon's mastery of light and disinterest in fussy decor; recollections of Sydney Opera House construction workers being moved to tears as their perfect formwork was revealed poignantly highlighted a great achievement that pushed the boundaries of architecture, building, and human emotion. The knowledge that Utzon didn't witness the final unveiling silently rippled through the room. Later, Line Nørskov Davenport informed the audience about the Utzon Centre's ongoing work to educate children about the impact of architecture and design on wellbeing, and Els Van Hoorebeeck recalled the site visits and archival drawing excavations that guided the development of the reimagined pendant.