Velonna Flora

A light sculpture by Nathalie Ryan & Maison Carvay

Paris-based interior architect and designer Nathalie Ryan unveils Velonna Flora, a sculptural pendant light crafted in silk and velvet. This creation was born of a creative dialogue between Nathalie Ryan and Maison Carvay, the Paris atelier renowned for its couture-crafted lampshades and textile light forms. The Velonna Flora lamp embodies the seamless fusion of the mastery of the hand and vegetal artistry. A quiet moment of light suspended in space.

A Sculptural Velvet and Silk Pendant light

Velonna Flora features silk-velvet from Maison Dedar, with supple forest-green and burnt-orange petals outlined with a Samuel & Sons gold trim. The core, a pleated delicate gold and cream silk lining casts a warm amber glow, reminiscent of a blossoming corolla heart.

Presented for the first time in Maison Carvay’s showroom, the piece merges couture techniques, refined materials, and a nature-inspired sensibility, a moment of light held in space, where handcrafted textiles unfurl like a flower. Softness, shadow, and light are playing together.

Velonna Flora — The Light of an Inverted Dream

“Velonna Flora was born from a quiet desire, to express through light what words leave unspoken: softness, intimacy, and elegance suspended in time.” - Nathalie Ryan

In a quiet room, where late afternoon softens the edges of all things, a light appears to hover above a table. It isn’t quite a lamp, nor a flower, but a soft apparition of both. The velvet petals, green as the forests of her dream, seem to gently breathe. Within, an amber glow carries the warmth of memory, something between dusk and childhood.

The moment feels slightly surreal, touched by that threshold where the world tilts just enough to suggest a whisper of wonderland.

“More than light, Velonna Flora offers an atmosphere, a presence, and an invitation to pause.”

The fruit of a long-awaited reunion

Velonna Flora also marks a renewed creative dialogue between Nathalie Ryan and Renald Plessis, founder of Maison Carvay. One afternoon, while walking through Paris, Nathalie stepped into Carvay’s new showroom by chance, unaware it had recently opened. The space, arranged like a small boudoir lined with Renald’s couture-crafted pieces, felt instantly familiar.

In the quiet intimacy of Renald’s cabinet of curiosities, their friendship and creative complicity rekindled naturally.

Velonna Flora evokes velvet, femininity, and softness ; the quiet presence of an imaginary muse, with the intuitive, organic strength that Nathalie seeks to express in her work. A rare, soft, and quietly bold piece, this light sculpture gives form to emotions and offers a calming glow that recalls the precious art of taking time to live.

Product Information

Photography - Damien Boisson-Berçu

About

Rénald Plessis comes alive when faced with an object, a painting, or a scene, but remains discreet when it comes to his own story. Twenty years ago, he left a promising career to pursue his passion for beauty and for the noble craft of artistic lighting, taking over this family’s bespoke lampshade workshop. Under his artistic direction, it became Maison Carvay. He quickly established a signature style through his bold, unconventional approach: oversized shades, couture-inspired silhouettes, and refined blends of eras and influences.

Inspired by his love for the French Grand Siècle and by his curiosity for all forms of art, he often wanders through Paris, continually moved by its hidden treasures. His deep affection for French culture and heritage is evident in everything he creates.

Over the years, Maison Carvay has earned recognition from leading architects and interior designers for its bespoke craftsmanship and meticulous finishing - “the true measure of fine work lies in the details you don’t see,” he says. While lampshades were his starting point, Plessis has expanded into designing his own lighting collections: velvet lanterns, large silk-pleated pendants, table lamps, and more, each imbued with his poetic elegance.

Today, Maison Carvay is housed in a gallery in the heart of Paris’s 7th arrondissement. This intimate, cabinet-of-curiosities space brings together curated objects and lighting pieces in a warm, subdued atmosphere. Step inside and meet him, and you’ll be carried away by his unfailing enthusiasm for imagining new projects, small or grand, because, as he likes to say, “almost anything is possible.”