The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are showing up everywhere these days – even in commercial design, as evidenced by the latest home goods collection from Stellar Works.

Close-up view at the sculptural details found all throughout Stellar Works' sculptural Space Invaders collection.

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Working with multidisciplinary designer Luca Nichetto, the global furniture brand recently released “Space Invaders,” an eclectic assortment of objects with “bold character.” Comprised of bright colors and simple lines, the pieces overlap and intermingle, getting up close and personal rather than keeping a safe six-foot distance from each other.

The sculptural Dhala table lamp from Stellar Works' Space Invaders collection emits a warm glow on a small table between two chairs.

“Table and floor lamps, small tables with integrated light and trays find their own aesthetic in the juxtaposition of material and shapes that interpenetrate each other, marking an invasion of space that creates an original modularity,” the Stellar Works website says. “It is in this way that a luminous pearl stands between the base and the top of the side table, or that a series of glass spheres fill the metal structure of the lamps, or that the solidity of wooden trays find their balance resting on ceramic stones, while other trays with a yo-yo shape fit one another, creating multiple combinations. The result is a playful group of timeless design objects, able to invade a variety of environments.”

The sculptural Dhala table lamp featured in Stellar Works' Space Invaders collection.

The sculptural Dhala floor lamp featured in Stellar Works' Space Invaders collection.

The sculptural Hoba side table featured in Stellar Works' Space Invaders collection.

The Dhala table and floor lamps are made up of odd numbers of colorful Murano glass beads that are illuminated from within by warm LED strips, while the Space Invaders’ Hoba side table is just under a foot tall and integrates yet another illumined Murano bead. The cylindrical lamp assaults the nothingness created by the matching black discs that form the base and tabletop.

The collection’s trays further explore intersecting matter. The irregular-shaped Kaali tray is poised on a small circle in a way that makes it look like they both occupy the same space. Meanwhile, the Lonar tray consists of two circular plates conjoined in the center but with an empty void between them, allowing several units to interlock in an array of multi-hued patterns.

Sculptural Kaali Trays featured in Stellar Works' Space Invaders furniture series.

Conjoined circular Lonar trays featured in Stellar Works' Space Invaders furniture series.

Stellar Works describes them as “objects devoted not only to invade the environment in which they are located, but also composed of elements that are different in shape and materiality, which surprisingly mix and steal each other’s space.”

Italian-born Nichetto says of the collection: “Space Invaders is a perfect example of our mission at Nichetto Studio to show the beauty in function. The collection demonstrates our shared belief with Stellar Works in understanding the strengths and limitations of different techniques to give purpose to forms and ensure the enjoyment of the user.”

Close-up view at the sculptural details found all throughout Stellar Works' sculptural Space Invaders collection.

With offices in Venice and Stockholm, Nichetto’s eponymous design group has been making innovative products of all shapes, sizes, and functionalities since 2009. One of their more recent endeavors saw them create whimsical window displays for the reopening of the Hermès Milan flagship store.

According to the Stellar Works website, this work is really about storytelling: “The concepts we design can objectify just as well into a pencil, a chair, a building, or a brand. We tell emotional tales built on a vocabulary of materials and animated by a grammar of form.”

Pieces from Stellar Works' sculptural Space Invaders lamp collection light up a small dark table.

Nichetto and Stella Works have fulfilled that narrative directive with the new Space Invaders collection, visually pushing back against the physical and emotional social distancing of the last two years.