The larger is a five-foot model that sells for about $7,000, while a two-foot version will cost about $4,000. There are 14 of each, and they will be unveiled exclusively at Colette in mid-January.
But even finding the right salt proved a process of trial and error, Dreyfus admits."In the beginning, I wanted to use salt from the Dead Sea," he says. "But it was too gray. And when I tried French salt, it wasn't quite crystalline enough. I finally found the right salt. But I'm not telling where it's from. It's my secret."
In any case, the salt diffuses the light with a subtle tint of lavender and amber.
So is this the beginning of a new career? Dreyfus might have no intention of producing his exclusive freshman effort industrially, but he has designed a small chrome lamp for London's Sketch, restaurateur Mourad Mazouz's latest venture.
"Why not do more lamps?" muses Dreyfus. "These lamps aren't for everybody. They were extremely expensive to produce. And I don't have an industrial partner yet. But, in the end, it's just another way for me to express my ideas about the possibilities of light."
