Lighting design. The projects brought to “supersalone” by the companies
Credits: Daniele Mari
The human factor, as well technological innovation and focus on good looks and well-made products are the ingredients that have gone into the lighting projects at the fair, spanning craftsmanship and industrial production.
Light plays a determining part in the design process. Not just for defining the space and setting the scene, but also as an object in its own right. Man is at the centre, along with his organism (the circadian rhythms, which influence our body clocks, as well as our powers of perception and cognition). This is something the lighting brands exhibiting at “supersalone” are all too aware of. Artemide (Pav 02, Stand B 24), is presenting a series of devices designed by the BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) group of architects, designers and thinkers based in Copenhagen and New York. They range from the minimalist Task Light, which allows for great freedom of movement with only two joints, to the flexible La Linea tube of light. There is also Stellar Nebula, in which BIG brings together the artisan craft of glass blowing and innovative finishing techniques, as well as a family of outdoor lamps built to energy saving principles. Latest products also include Takku, a portable light from Foster + Partners, Funivia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua, Flexia by Mario Cucinella (which draws on the Japanese art of origami) and the modern El Porís chandelier from Herzog & de Meuron.
Task Light by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) for Artemide
La Linea by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) for Artemide
Takku by Foster + Partners for Artemide
Chandelier El Porís by Herzog & de Meuron for Artemide
Cini&Nils (Pav 04, Stand K 06) is showcasing its latest collections along with some of its most representative lamps. The new products include the Manhattanhenge lamp (evocative of the sunset amongst the New York skyscrapers) and the wireless, atmospheric Ognidove floor lighting, both by Luta Bettonica and Giancarlo Leone. The brand’s icons on display include Cuboluce (designed in 1972 by Franco Bettonica and Mario Melocchi), Gradi, Tenso and a series of timeless lamps such as Formala, Acqua, Fludd and Assolo. All the products are characterised by the company’s attention to sustainability and direct client interaction (thanks to IoT technologies), dovetailing with the mission of the Milanese event.
Manhattanhenge indoor table lamp by Luta Bettonica e Giancarlo Leone for Cini&Nils
Ognidove table version with wireless lighting system by Luta Bettonica e Giancarlo Leone for Cini&Nils
Contardi (Pav 02, Stand J 09) has expanded its range of products with the family of Calypso pendant lights, designed by Servomuto, a floor lamp for indoor use, Calypso Floor Indoor, which features a small Guatemala green marble table and green leather covering. Each lampshade comes in four different colour combinations and is covered with waterproof and flameproof, hypoallergenic and non-toxic fabric. Another brand novelty is the Muse Lantern Outdoor Battery, a battery-run outdoor version of the lantern designed by Tristan Auer, which now takes on a more modern look thanks to the design of the light source. Last but not least is the Muse Outdoor, which comes in white and champagne gold.
New Calypso Floor Indoor lamp by Servomuto for Contardi
Muse Lantern Outdoor Battery by Tristan Auer for Contardi
“A fantastic opportunity to seduce and excite” is how Piacenza-based Davide Groppi (Pav 04, Stand E 09) describes light, which he sees as a sort of alphabet with which to tell stories. The name is often the starting point: “first I try to identify the poetics of the object. The form is its inevitable consequence.” To mark the recovery, his company decided to showcase Rail – a wall lamp with dimmer in a heart-shaped configuration - at “supersalone”. The aim is to illuminate the space in a simpler way, through the tracks of a little electric train, “ironically and light-heartedly.”
Rail, Davide Groppi
Foscarini (Pav 04, Stand B 01) has brought its VITE (LIVES) project to the fairgrounds; while it has unveiled two lamps at its Corso Monforte showroom in Milan that retrace its collaborations with Rodolfo Dordoni and Alberto + Francesco Meda, at “supersalone” it’s the people who talk about lighting. Produced with the artist Gianluca Vassallo and the writer Flavio Soriga (and display by Ferruccio Laviani), the project harnesses several different media (storytelling, photography, film d’auteur) to illustrate lighting from the intimate point of view of the home.
