JEAN PELLE
Jean Pelle is Co-Founder and Creative Director at PELLE, a New York-based lighting and furniture design studio that she established in partnership with her husband, Oliver Pelle, in 2011. The PELLE studio practice integrates artistic exploration with architectural integrity to offer an original collection of hand produced, professionally refined pieces. Driven by an exploration of new ideas, PELLE’s collections of lighting, furniture, and objects are continually expanding into different materials and areas of design.
Born in South Korea, Jean grew up in Los Angeles actively working in the art studio of her father, a professional and commercial sculptor. She earned her Bachelor of Art in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley in 1999, and worked for several years at the architecture firm of Joseph Esherick/EHDD in San Francisco before receiving her Master of Architecture from Yale University in 2005. Upon graduation, she worked at the architecture firm of Tod Williams Billie Tsien in Manhattan until 2008, when she left to establish her own design studio that would combine her lifelong passion of fine art and product design. That same year, she created and authored her inaugural piece, the “Do-It-Yourself Bubble Chandelier”, which launched her career in lighting design.
Lure Radiata
Cast-cotton paper, paint, blackened brass, LED
78”H x 58”W x 32”D
“We design and make lighting, furniture, and whatever else triggers our interest. Our work is sculptural, sometimes decorative or even minimal, and everything in between. We live for the juxtaposition of it all.”
“Designer of the Day: Pelle”, Surface Magazine, July 22, 2019
“I think of it as a ‘layering’ approach… We work on the same projects together at the same time, layering one thought on top of the other. It’s a very fun and interesting way to go about the process of designing.”
— Jean Pelle
“Four Designing Couples on What It's Like to Work Together”, AD, July 13, 2018
“We spend pretty much all our time out of the studio with our two kids. We rediscover the wonder and weirdness of childhood through their eyes.”
“Designer of the Day: Pelle”, Surface Magazine, July 22, 2019
