Eye on Design | The Brian Boitano Project | HOW TO | Dining room pendant

Dining room pendant_The Brian Boitano Project_Favale di Malvaro_Italy

If you’ve seen the posts about The Brian Boitano Project, you’ll know that I had the best job of my life as art director of the HGTV television show, chronicling the renovation of a crumbling stone villa in the mountains of Italy.

One of the most asked questions regarding the details of the design is about the dining room pendant that was made out of a wine jug found in the cellar of the house.

So, by popular demand, here is how Brian, and his contractor, Enzo Pezzolo, made that fabulous pendant.

Favale house_Italy

The house belonged to Brian Boitano’s great-great grandfather, and he knew he wanted to incorporate relics from the house into the design.

He found the old wine jugs in the cellar, covered in decades of dust.

Wine jugs_The Brian Boitano Project_HGTV_Favale_Italy

These bottles are called “demijohns”, or damigiana in Italian.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
demi-john : a large narrow-necked bottle usually enclosed in wickerwork

You can often find vintage demijohns in antique stores, or on Ebay.

Remove the rattan covering, and wash the bottle, inside and out. In Italy, Brian’s cousin, Marcello, put sand and water into the bottle and shook it up to clean out the wine residue inside.  We were impressed.

The next step is to cut off the bottom of the bottle. You can try it yourself, but you’ll need an assistant. My recommendation would be to find a glass company that will cut it for you.

We enlisted Enzo and Donatello for that job. (Brian and his nieces, Krista and Aubrey, watched them work their magic.)

Enzo and Donatello_Cutting wine jug_Favale_Italy

Holding the bottle upside down, Enzo drew a line around the base of the bottle, where they wanted to cut it.

Enzo

Then Donatello used a glass cutter to score the bottle on the line.

Donatello cutting wine jug

Next, they set the bottle on its base and Enzo heated the scored line with a blow torch.

Enzo blow torch

You have to be very careful not to hold the blow torch in one place for very long (the glass will shatter), so Donatello turned the bottle around slowly as Enzo held the blow torch.

Enzo blow torch

Once the scored line was heated all the way around, the top literally lifted off. The edge wasn’t perfect – it had to be sanded a bit – but the imperfection just added to the charm.

Wine jug pendant_Favale_Italy

Now for the lighting insert.

On a shopping trip to Ikea in Genoa, we found the perfect solution.

Me, Brian, Chris Bierlein_Genoa_Italy

The HÄGGÅS LED pendant lamp.

haggas-led-pendant-lamp__0138763_PE298589_S4

Brian pulled the plastic covers off of each LED bulb, leaving the tiny bulbs exposed.

Two corks were trimmed to fit into the neck of the bottle, and a hole was drilled through the center of each one. One was inserted into the inside of the bottle, and one from the outside.

The wire of the pendant was removed from the mounting unit so it could be threaded through the corks.

Once the Ikea pendant light was inserted into the bottle, and the wire threaded through the corks, it could be reattached to the mounting unit, and hard wired into the ceiling.

Dining room pendant_Brian Boitano Project_Favale_Italy

Enzo held it as Brian determined the desired height.

Enzo_Favale_Italy

And there you have it.

FANTASTICO!

[DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE INSTRUCTION SHEET FOR HOW TO MAKE WINE JUG PENDANT]

THE BRIAN BOITANO PROJECT CAN NOW BE SEEN ON NETFLIX.

DR - Kitchen_ Chris Bierlein photo
Chris Bierlein photo

One response to “Eye on Design | The Brian Boitano Project | HOW TO | Dining room pendant”

  1. Eloise

    It’s fascinating how they did that. But you certainly would need semi-professionals to show you how to do it so you don’t actually hurt yourself. But it is unusually beautiful and organic looking.