For years, Dominique Hunter, an interior designer from Melbourne Australia, was frustrated with the makeshift method in which cable hung pendant lights were positioned and secured. The common solution at the time - a brass hook - was not appropriate for many of the great lights she used in her interiors.
So she enlisted the help of her partner Antony Richards to create an elegant and natural way to hang pendant lights in her projects.
While managing their business Hunter & Richards, Antony used his spare time and background in jewellery design to carefully hand craft a hook that would suspend cable hung ceiling lights with no knot, clamp, bolt, screw or clip. "We wanted a solution that would not stand out as a feature, one that would let the cable hang naturally," explained Dominique.
A decision made early in the project was to have the cable lock itself down. This lead to a form that was beautiful in itself, but when wrapped with the electrical cable it took a step back and let the design of the light fitting do it's job. It let the light "shine."
"There are so many cool light fittings around, and just because you're not spending a lot on one doesn't mean you have to compromise on the minor details of an interior project by using a cheap hook from the hardware store. We wanted something that was designed for this purpose alone, and be a solution that would suit any pendant no matter the budget or style of interior," Dominique added.
After some workshop experimentation a prototype was born. A small run of cast reproductions allowed Antony and Dominique to test the design on one of their interior projects. They were very happy with the result, and decided to develop the product further.
Antony turned to the Internet to raise funds and gauge people's interest. The popularity of crowd funding made Kickstarter an obvious choice, with it's ability to spread the word quickly and keep people updated on the status of the project proving to be a powerful tool in the birth of a new product.
The Kickstarter campaign was successful, raising 309% of the funding goal. This allowed Dominique and Antony to complete the development of the Little Bishop and then move ahead with production.