Stephen Pikus lights up our interiors
March 13, 2017
Three years ago lighting designer Stephen Pikus won first place in the Professional Category at Eskom’s Energy Efficient Lighting Design Competition with his design ‘Bright Spark’. Today his proudly South African, eco-conscious designs can be seen brightening the lives and interiors in homes, hotels and restaurants everywhere.
A designer who lights up our own hearts!

Darkie Designs is particularly excited to be the agents in Limpopo and Mpumalanga for Stephen Pikus’s Green Light District range of glass chandeliers and TRuK. Not only are his “luminaires” exquisitely handcrafted by his team of previously disadvantaged community members, but they are also made mostly from recycled, repurposed and renewable materials.

From the beginning, Pikus has worked closely with local recyclers and established NGOs to develop two product ranges, one that uses materials such as recycled glass and the other aptly named TRuK after its main component – disused truck air filters. Combined, these make up a range of lighting that is both environmentally and socially conscious.

Beauty is born from discarded truck filters

The TRuK patented range of pendant and standing lamps are made from recycled air filters from trucks. This may seem like an odd choice for a light fitting, but Pikus and his team work a special kind of magic, and strikingly transform these air filters into various shapes and sizes. The designs are fashioned in a range of electroplated and powder-coated finishes in earthy African tones of matt black, gold, copper, silver, and white.

Pikus told Big City Life that he believes; “…it’s about the responsible sourcing of materials, the use of earth friendly processes and about making a positive impact, environmentally and socially. Many materials are thrown away daily and many of these, with a little imagination, can become something beautiful. We have a responsibility to educate future generations on the importance of an environmental conscience.”

At Darkie Design we are passionate about serving our environment well and supporting local communities wherever possible. Lighting up the world with the Pikus’s designs that were borne of the same vision and strong focus on community upliftment, is an absolute dream for us.

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By Kyra Harper August 15, 2023
Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light.  For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
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