Odeon Lamp by Studio Klass for FontanaArte

“We wanted a lamp with a strong relationship with surrounding environment, an abiding correlation between light and space”

Contemporary technology brought us many items – smartphones, tablets, e-books – shifting our IT fulchrum from home-offices to living room, changing the direction we usually reach informations: before we went to a desk where the PC was, now portable digital data can follow us everywhere. For this reason, sometimes we need an ambient light that smooths the contrasts between digital displays and a completely dark room, and can be used as a relaxing light to enjoy a tv show or just talking while sitting on a sofa.

The Odeon lamp for FontanaArte is entirely covered in cuoietto leather and casts its light to the wall, thus creating a comfy and warm glow of refracted light, while the other side is opaque and screens the bulb. The leather handle allows people to place the lamp anywhere into a room, next to a sofa, near the wall so it will become a quiet presence.

Odeon Lamp for FontanaArte, by Studio Klass, Photography ©Pietro Cocco/Studio Klass

Spin Light by Lucie Koldová for Lasvit

Small and large transparent pendants multiplied. Spin light’s expression of dynamics is based on a simple rotational form resembling a child’s toy known as the spinning top or the silhouettes of whirling dervishes. It gives the lights a basic graphic impression. Clear transparent airy lamps with a touch of color on top are powered by small LED efficient discs which highlighting strong silhouettes and let them float freely in the space as empty volumes.

Spin Light, by Lucie Koldová, for Lasvit

Winkel w127 Task Lamp by Dirk Winkel for Wästberg

“When I started thinking about the design, I had the desire to challenge the perception and the common preconceptions of a material that is normally known to people just as ‘plastics’. I knew that I would like to go further than what’s the norm not only in terms of function and the look, but about the feel and tactility of the material as well. Soon it was clear that one of the greatest things I was missing in typical designs made of plastic was a significant impression of substance, of materiality. Therefore, the next step could only be a design that celebrated the actual material as it is, straightforward, solid and honest, with a concept of hiding nothing, but showing its innermost values to the outside. No second skin, no paint coat, the true, bold material in its pure form.”
- Dirk Winkel

Winkel w127 is manufactured of solid fiberglas reinforced biopolyamide. The material is recyclable. The mechanical solution is based on micro gas springs, widely used in the automotive and electronics industries. The gas springs have a lifespan of more than 50,000 compressions and give exceptionally good movement patterns. The shade is adjustable for universal direction of the light. The light technology is based on a highly energy-efficient multichip LED solution.

Wästberg Winkel w127, by Dirk Winkel, GOOD DESIGN Award 2012

Exhibition: A Passion for Jean Prouvé

The Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli presents A Passion for Jean Prouvé, an exhibition devoted to the furniture and architecture by the French designer Jean Prouvé from the collection owned by Laurence and Patrick Seguin.

Laurence and Patrick Seguin discovered the work of Jean Prouvé, in the late 1980s, through his furniture designs. They were immediately struck by the unique aesthetic of these pieces, where the artistic skill lies wholly in imperceptible technical mastery devoted to enhancing the strength of the materials. While at the time very few people had even heard of Jean Prouvé, their enthusiasm for his captivating lines was immediate, a revelation that became a true passion.

The couple then began to take an interest in Jean Prouvé’s work as a whole, of which the furniture is only a part, going on to discover his architectural designs. With the idea that “there is no difference between constructing a piece of furniture and constructing a building”, Jean Prouvé applied the same design approach to both fields, basing all of his work on it.

From the opening of their gallery in Paris in 1989, Laurence and Patrick Seguin began to work in earnest promoting the creations of Jean Prouvé, with the result that the most important international collectors and the most prestigious museums now have works by the French architect and designer in their collections. Indeed today Jean Prouvé is held to be one of the key exponents of twentieth century design.

Laurence and Patrick Seguin are now presenting a number of works from their private collection for the first time: around 40 pieces by Jean Prouvé, most of which are prototypes or extremely rare, from the armchair designed for the University dormitory of Nancy in 1932 to the light armchair created for the University of Antony in 1954, to the furniture produced for Africa.

The same principles of functionality and rational fabrication that the designer applied to furniture often destined for the public sector, can also be found in Prouvé’s architectural designs: the same solid structures feature clever mechanisms for assembly and organisation that enable both the furniture and the constructions to be easily moved, disassembled and modified.

The Maison Metropole (8×12 meters) is now to be mounted for the first time on the Lingotto track. In 1949 this aluminum construction won a Ministry of Education competition for “mass-producible rural school with classroom and teacher accommodation”: a masterpiece of nomadic housing, followed the portico principle patented by Prouvé in 1939. The Ateliers Jean Prouvé built two of them, one in Bouqueval, near Paris, and the other in Vantoux in Moselle, which will be on show in Turin.

Taking four people three consecutive days to assemble, a stop-motion film will be made of the construction process, with video footage streamed over the internet.

A Passion for Jean Prouvé: From Furniture to Architecture, Torino, Italy
April 6 – September 8, 2013, Galerie Patrick Seguin

Wireflow Pendant by Arik Levy for VIBIA

Exploring geometries in two or three dimensions, Arik Levy designed for VIBIA the pendant lighting fixture Wireflow, an authentic sculpture of light in space. Wireflow reinterprets from a contemporary and original point of view the classical hanging luminaries, thanks to geometrical configurations able to integrate with other compositions and create a light installation with a unique character. Its structure formed by thin rods and LED terminals (3W) produces a visual continuity of lines and light spots, which provides the immaterial with a notable objectual character. According to Levy, Wireflow is in the mean time presence and absence, transparency and luminosity, light and fluidity.

Wireflow Pendant Lighting, by Arik Levy, for VIBIA

Photography: FLOS Lighting by Carl Kleiner

Carl Kleiner has completed a series of product photography for the lighting brand FLOS.

FLOS, by Carl Kleiner, at MINK MGMT.

Ascent by Daniel Rybakken for Luceplan

Ascent uses the same archetypical head found on Counterbalance (Luceplan 2012), mounted on a slender vertical stem. By moving the head along the stem, the light intensity goes from being turned off at the bottom position, to gradually ascending to the full light output at the top. This gives the user control over not only the light intensity, but also the spread of the light.

The visual elements of Ascent are all recognizable, from the classic head to the round stem, but it is the way you use Ascent that makes it different from existing lights. The gesture of sliding the head upwards for more light and down for less is a conceptual idea, but at the same time an action that feels natural.

Ascent comes in two versions, with an anchor bolt for tables, or with a base. The anchor bolt is made impact resistant by having a co-molding of steel and rubber in the base, allowing up to 15 degree of tilt of the stem. As to protecting the inner mechanics and electronics the head is made to rotate freely. These measures make Ascent suitable for larger public spaces as well as for domestic use.

Ascent, by Daniel Rybakken, for Luceplan

Jar RGB by Arik Levy for Lasvit

Jar RGB is a lighting project connecting thin colorful glass blowing techniques and the idea of RGB color mixing. Using white glass for one of the hanging jars allows it to turn into a large light bulb generating the light for the entire fixture. Observing one jar through another and the space surrounding them gives one a unique and everlasting discovery of color superimposition.

Jar RGB by Arik Levy for Lasvit

Dot Lamp by Samuel Accoceberry for MARCEL BY

Dot Lamp, by Samuel Accoceberry, for MARCEL BY

Hood Lamp by Form Us With Love for Ateljé Lyktan

Hood is a sheltering lamp that creates both room and light. Much like the recent Plug lamp, Hood is built on necessity. Once again bringing a dual function light, Hood meets the basic desire of shutting things out and concentrating light on secluded areas like work-, conference- or dining tables. At the same time, the three-piece modular function lets you build the Hood to whatever size you need. Starting with basic corner units, one can add the compressed industrial felt sheets to scale the pendant for an extensive illuminating form.

“The Hood lamp is more than a lamp. Itʼs a piece of furniture – the size and material has an interesting effect on the atmosphere, making the piece feel so much more than just a pendant lamp”, says Form Us With Love.

Hood Lamp, by Form Us With Love, for Ateljé Lyktan, Photography by Jonas Lindström