By Robert Murphy December 31,2002

PARIS - If anyone has the proverbial lightbulb over his head, it's Thierry Dreyfus. For the last 25 years, the French lighting designer has honed his ideas about light, while illuminating catwalks for designers from Yves Saint Laurent to Helmut Lang.

So one might suppose that designing a lamp would be a snap.

Au contraire. Dreyfus found adapting his notion of perfect light - an 18th-century candle-lit crystal chandelier - a difficult task. After all, a contraption of wax and crystal would have been too anachronistic. And Dreyfus, 42, had no intention of rehashing the past.

"I didn't want to do a flash disco lamp," says Dreyfus. "I wanted it to be very modern and discreet."

Ultimately, he discovered his solution in a substance most people associate with cooking: salt. "Salt is perfect for what I wanted to do," he says. "It reflects the light, giving it movement. And the salt I used makes the light seductive."