Design & Architecture

Thinking Outside The Box

Thinking Outside The Box

Out of our design book, here are two remarkable products from one of Italy's most well-known luminaires, Flos.

Words by Aneesha Rai in Design & Architecture · Nov 16th, 2015

Flos is an exciting  brand that spans over five decades. Starting out with producing lamps that were popular in Italian industrial design, the brand excels in pursuing the minimalist look that is a contemporary favourite. With keen attention given to design that could be sleek and timeless, along with great technical skill, Flos is a brand that needs to be reckoned with for lighting solutions at home.

Unique and quintessentially basic to look at, Ipnos at Flos is a design marvel. It has deconstructed a basic structure of a lantern into what seems to raise a lot of questions. Good ones, of course as the way one can conceive how it should be constructed is a big puzzle. Emanating light from such a skeletal structure can be quite baffling, but one must realise that great kudos must be given to its creators Nicoletta Rossi and Guido Bianchi. This ultra-light skeleton of thin extruded aluminium produces a void like feature, which encapsulates the surroundings seamlessly. In the darkness, Ipnos emanates what Flos calls 'diffused luminosity', something that shines like embers with no idea of the source of the light. And that in itself, is magical to experience - where simplicity meets crafty inventiveness.

The Ipnos gives you light where it is needed without the trimmings

If you're looking for something for a more intimate setting indoors, the Tatou T1 that breeds a bit of history for Flos. As a lamp that has evolved over the ages, the Tatou has a subtle dome shaped style with a mesh structure that initially started out as suspension lighting; this gradually grew to a whole collection. This beloved design product is created by Patricia Urquiola, the award-winning architect and designer. Patricia's works have had her working with a bunch of signature luxury brands including the likes of B&B Italia and Louis Vuitton. 

A design lamp that's lasted through the ages.

Besides a quintessential dome shape, the mesh-like design acts as a screen, with the light shining through on both ends. The materials used to design this lamp have begun starting from the rather initial crude design of a series of metallic buckles united by tapes. This has since evolved to using various vertical perforated bands formed by injection moulding and then crystallised in three dimensional leather. The name of the lamp, 'Tatou' is French for armadillo, a symbol of strength to which Urquiola associates with the brand.

Flos is available at B&B Italia and Aati showrooms in Dubai.

www.flos.com