Light means something different depending on where you grew up. In Nordic cultures it is scarce and therefore precious — something hoarded through dark winters, celebrated at its return. In the Mediterranean it is abundant and therefore intimate — the particular quality of afternoon sun on stone, the warmth of a candle on a summer table. Forbidden Fruit is what happens when both of those relationships with light exist in the same object. The piece is a brass lighting sculpture — a chandelier, in the loosest sense of the word, but one stripped of ceremony. Candles are the light source: deliberately archaic, deliberately flickering, casting something alive onto the surface of the brass. Around them, wilting branches hold a world in miniature — luscious fruit, delicate leaves, ants in motion. Each element was carved, shaped and polished by hand by Sako Ohanian, a master metal founder working in the tradition of Lebanese artisanal brass craftsmanship. The fruit is forbidden. The ants are working. The candles are burning. The branches are wilting. None of this is incidental. The piece was made as a three-way collaboration: Anastasia Nysten, concept and direction. Sako Ohanian, brass fabrication and carving. Yasmina Nysten, sculpture. It was commissioned by Almaz Collectible Design in partnership with The Ready Hand as part of Creative Liaisons — a collection of 63 pieces by Lebanese designers working with local artisans, curated to raise funds for the LIFE Education Programme. Forbidden Fruit was auctioned at the LIFE Global Gala Dinner, London, November 10, 2023. Proceeds supported the LIFE Education Programme for Lebanese youth. Brass · Candle lighting · 200 × Ø 65 cm · 8 kg · Edition 1/7 · Photo credit: Tarek Moukaddem.