Buoyant's Heirloom pendant hangs glass in leather

May 8. Buoyant posted a new pendant to its site overnight. The Heirloom light is a cross-shaped piece of clear cast glass suspended in leather straps. No diffuser, no shade, no housing. The glass hangs bare.

Josh Neretin, the designer behind Buoyant, built the fixture around three materials: glass, metal, and leather. The cross shape is cast, not blown. The leather straps sling under the glass and loop through metal hardware above. The straps hold the weight. The cross catches the light and throws it back unfiltered.

The construction

The glass sits at the center. Four arms of the cross extend outward, each one about the same length. The leather wraps underneath and pulls taut through the metal loops. The metal is visible where the straps thread through. The whole assembly hangs from a single point, but the four-strap system distributes the load. The glass doesn't touch the ceiling fixture. It floats in the straps.

The piece reads handmade. The cast glass has surface variation. The leather shows its grain. The metal is left bare, not powder-coated. The combination is workwear-adjacent in material language, but the form is devotional. A cross suspended in straps. The shape carries weight the designer may or may not have intended.

The take

This is the stripped-down version of the pendant everyone else adds a shade to. Neretin went the other direction. He pulled the shade off and left the bulb exposed, then replaced the bulb with a piece of sculptural glass that does the same job: it glows, it throws light, it becomes the object you look at. The leather-and-metal rigging is the only concession to function. The glass could have hung from chain. It hangs from leather instead, and that one decision moves the piece out of industrial revival and into something softer.

Buoyant lists the Heirloom as available now. No price on the product page. The piece is made to order, per the site's note. Handcrafted in the U.S., which usually means a lead time and a price point that matches. The cross shape will read loud in certain rooms, quiet in others. The leather will darken over time. The glass will stay the same.