Arts preview: Frank Gehry's Fish Lamps at Gagosian Gallery

The story of Frank Gehry's iconic Fish Lamps is now design history. In 1983 he was commissioned to create objects from the Formica Corporation's new product, the plastic laminate ColorCore. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect was inspired to turn the accidentally shattered pieces - which reminded him of fish scales - into gently glowing sculptures shaped like fish in motion.

"I noticed that the [Formica] product was translucent and glowed when lit from behind," says Gehry, who also detours into sculpture and furniture design. "It was beautiful and I decided to explore it. I continued to do so for many years."

Gehry's Fish Lamps have remained popular since they were first shown at a solo exhibition at Gagosian Los Angeles in 1984. But when Larry Gagosian and Deborah McLeod, the director of Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills, came up with the idea to make a retrospective of them in 2012, it was not meant to lead to a new series. However, that is exactly what happened and several pieces of it are on display at Gagosian's Hong Kong space.

"We talked and thought it would be fun to do a show of the old lamps and make one new one," says the Los Angeles-based Gehry.