This 7 Foot Chandelier Was Made Entirely of Paper Orchids

This 7 Foot  Chandelier  Was  Made  Entirely of Paper Orchids

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: RON VILLANUEVA

At Martha Stewart Living, we're always on the lookout for inspiration. And often enough, it comes in the form of spectacular art installations and visits to our favorite places like local botanical gardens. This handcrafted chandelier by artist Constantine del Rosario combines the best of both.

Commissioned by The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens for their gift shop in San Marino, California, the chandelier measures at 7 feet long and 5 feet wide. And the handcrafted flowers themselves are quite large as well — the smallest measuring at 1 foot wide and the biggest ones at 3 feet wide. "My inspiration for the piece was the Huntington itself," he tells Martha Stewart Living. "The Huntington Botanical Gardens are spectacular grounds and when I was asked to do a large scale 'chandelier' I knew I wanted to make it out of flowers. Several sketches were submitted, one using giant lotus flowers, but ultimately, they chose the orchid design, which was my favorite. The chandelier was to be hung amongst all-white Asian ceramics, so I decided to do an all white chandelier was well. I love the cleanliness of all-white and I felt the repetition of the same image from large to small would make a stunning visual impact.”