Etched Kozo Lampshades - Dina Petrillo

While visiting the town of Rockland on Maine's coast a couple of weeks ago, richly colored paper lampshades in the window of the Farnsworth Museum shop caught my eye.

I googled the Belfast Bay Shade Company soon after and learned that the vibrant beauties are designed and made by Dina Petrillo, a sculptor, printmaker, and teacher in Waldo County, Maine.

Dina's colorful shades (Jujube inspiration, yum) feature botanical motifs such as brussels sprouts, geraniums, grapevines, and hydrangeas, just to name several of the plants that inspire her. She told me she is picking, canning and pickling fresh produce right now...."and I'm thinking about the next group of plant plates I will harvest from the gardens to print for the next shade line."

Dina pulls original prints on etching presses and constructs each shade to last. The printed Japanese kozo paper is adhered to woven Dacron sailcloth with encaustic, a medium of raw bees wax and damar resin; it stabilizes the richly printed colors.

Each durable shade 'skin' is sewn onto steel armature, in any number of shapes and sizes, with waxed sail thread. 

The glowing light would go a long way in cozying up a room this winter.

Dina recently opened a show at Frontier in Brunswick, Maine that features prints on canvas. Her work will also be on display in October at Betts Gallery in Belfast, Maine.

Dina Petrillo is on Facebook.


Thanks to Natalie Zee Drieu of Coquette and Jenny Doh of Crescendoh [site no longer available] for featuring All Things Paper - 20 Unique Projects from Leading Paper Crafters, Artists, and Designers recently. Their sites have long been two of my favorites!