With See the Stars Again, the major exhibition-event presented at Fabbrica Orobia during the FuoriSalone, Flos celebrated its 60th anniversary. Narrating a vision of the future that makes innovation a value of responsibility and sharing

Play a game. Close your eyes and think about an icon of Italian design. What’s the first product that comes to mind? Undoubtedly 9 out of 10 people would say the Arco by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the most copied lamp in the world but also the object that best summarizes the values of Italian creativity: innovation, essential form and concept, elegance, irony, timelessness. A project that reaches its 60th anniversary this year, along with the company that has produced it since 1962, Flos, which has decided to choose this piece as the emblem of a story superlatively narrated during the FuoriSalone 2022, with an exhibition-event set up at Fabbrica Orobia under the evocative title “See the Stars Again.”

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Arco K is the special edition of the iconic Arco lamp by the Castiglioni brothers, made for the 60th anniversary of the product, which coincides with the 60th birthday of Flos. For this limited edition a material has been chosen that could not have been utilized at the time: a lead-free crystal that thanks to its transparency reveals the workings of the lamp and its functional principle. Arco K was presented at Fabbrica Orobia in a special installation (in the photo), created – like the entire commemorative exhibition – by the studio Calvi Brambilla. Photo Sara Fileti.

Special installation

Arco was the focus of a special installation in the exhibition path created by Calvi Brambilla inside the 6000 sqm of the industrial spaces at Via Orobia 15: the openings in a circular room, entirely in white, revealed the special edition of the lamp, Arco K, developed for the occasion and placed on a pedestal that rotated to display the precious details, in a game of highlights and reflections. The special feature of this limited edition of just 2022 numbered pieces is that the marble base – chosen by the Castiglioni brothers for its weight and strength – has been replaced by a material that is heavy but also recyclable, refined but also technical: lead-free crystal. An innovative solution that updates the lamp while also focusing attention on its structure, honing the original design concept of Arco, namely the idea – absolutely revolutionary at the time – of bringing light to the space above objects, breaking away from fixed power points on the ceiling and making the lamp more mobile. This approach is undoubtedly emblematic of a specific attitude of Flos in the celebration of its 60th year of activity.

Looking to the future

“To honor this achievement,” says Roberta Silva, CEO of the brand, “we felt that it was important to look to the future, more than to the past. We asked ourselves: what will Flos become, 60 years from now? To reply to this question, we began with what we are today, with the storytelling of the brand and its designers, all the way to the encounter between technological innovation, design and a new eco-friendly approach to the creation of lighting. We wanted to illustrate the position of the company, which puts four different aspects together: decorative, architectural, custom and outdoor lighting. Flos is the only lighting brand that can claim to have four such important pillars. Four sectors that actually interpenetrate, mingle and complete each other: today we work on contract projects by drawing on decorative items, and we insert lots of architectural lighting in our retail offerings. Every project requires the design of the light, and the decorative choice of products. On the one hand there is the light that tends to dematerialize and to become an integral part of the architecture; on the other, there is light that becomes a sign and takes on a precise identity. The activity of Flos, at this point, is based on a mixture of these two components, generating the atmosphere and the emotion of a space.”

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Patricia Urquiola seen in the space of the metaverse, on a module of Almendra.

A hybrid exhibition format

To tell the story of a company of the future that is “courageous, curious, passionate,” Flos made use of a hybrid display formula, decidedly different from the ones usually applied in commemorative exhibitions: partly installation, partly cultural event, artistic performance, a gathering place for clients and visitors. The company also offered a calendar of appointments, ranging from musical performances by the composer and DJ Davide Boosta Dileo – creator of an original “small concerto for pianoforte and sounding lights” – to talks with designers, artists and experts from various sectors; from workshops and creative experiences for children and adults, to food experiences organized by the group We Are ONA.

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The To-Tie table lamp by Guglielmo Poletti, composed of just three parts (cable, bar and cylinder) held together only by mechanical tension, without bolts, glues or welding.

Telling a story

“I believe that one distinctive characteristic of Flos products,” Roberta Silva continues, “is the fact that they tell a story. This is true of the icons, each of which becomes part of a true market boom, but also for the new collections, which due to their inventive, never banal character can always express continuity with the very famous items from the past.” This is the case, for example, of To-Tie, the table lamp that marks the start of collaboration with the young designer Guglielmo Poletti: an apparently simple piece, but one of great conceptual refinement, composed of just three parts (cable, bar and cylinder) held together by mechanical tension, without bolts, glues or welding. A project that links back to the intuitions of the Castiglioni brothers and their brilliant ready-mades. Then comes Almendra, the new modular system by Patricia Urquiola, based on a long design process that began in 2015 with the idea of interpreting the Serena table lamp – a sort of metal petal with the light source built into the base – in a suspended branch that could replace a traditional chandelier.

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The displays of new products for Flos Architectural. Photo Francesco Caredda.

Precious energy

“We have continued to work on this concept,” the designer says, “until we found the technology and the materials that could translate it in the best way possible. In Spanish, Almendra means almond. I chose the name because the two shells that contain the light source reminded me of this seed-package with a basic form that contains a source of precious energy, the kernel. We began with the development of a module and then we studied its possible compositions, which can happen in different ways: according to a very rational linear principle, organized horizontally or vertically, or in keeping with a rather more poetic principle, that of the branch, which gives rise to the grouping of multiple modules.”

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One of the talks during the exhibition-event.

Reducing environmental impact

Almendra seems like a very simple object, composed of a bulb and a diffuser. But it actually conceals great design complexity, in which the priority is reduction of the environmental impact of the product and the manufacturing process. The shells, on the opaque and the transparent sides, are made with a polycarbonate derived from by-products of paper making. So they are made with a bioplastic that does not come from specifically developed cultivation, with its inevitable consumption of water and land, but from a waste material. The trunk and the lighting device of the system are in 100% recyclable extruded aluminium. All the parts are assembled only with invisible bolts, without the use of glue, and bear indications of the recycling category. This means that Almendra can be easily dismantled and every part can be correctly recycled depending on its material.

The logic of the circular economy

“Flos,” Roberta Silva concludes, “is conducting advanced research on multiple fronts: on materials, technologies, but also ways of designing products with the aim of making them last as long as possible, followed by easy disassembly. In the company, the logic of the circular economy is very concrete. It is an aspect of firm conviction on the part of Design Holding, of which Flos is a part, namely ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance); it is an important pillar of our growth programs for the next five years. We believe it is fundamental to be ahead of everyone also from this standpoint, leading to very concrete results. Lighting has the good fortune of being more advanced in terms of sustainability than other industrial sectors in the world of furnishings. The passage to LEDs, a few years ago, led to remarkable progress in this direction, triggering a drastic reduction of energy consumption while boosting the longevity of light sources. But there are still many possible paths of research. For example, the path of contamination is very interesting: technologies developed in area far from lighting reveal unusual, innovative applications; the same is true of materials. This is very creative and stimulating work, conducted in our four R&D centers in terms of pure research: it starts with curiosity, and often leads to almost unexpected but very enthusing results.”

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