Milan Design Week 2024: Flos Illuminates Palazzo Visconti
Posted in: UncategorizedThree archival images inspire an immersive installation featuring new releases by Michael Anastassiades, Barber Osgerby and Formafantasma
Milan Design Week 2024: Flos Illuminates Palazzo Visconti
Three archival images inspire an immersive installation featuring new releases by Michael Anastassiades, Barber Osgerby and Formafantasma
After she stepped into the role of Chief Creative Officer for Italian lighting pioneer Flos in October 2023, Barbara Corti was parsing through archival imagery when she uncovered a trio of photos from 1988 that featured the designers Achille Castiglioni, Tobia Scarpa and Philippe Starck. The three were lensed together in Milan’s historic, ornately-styled Palazzo Visconti for the release of a new chandelier, a brilliant bouquet of bulbs known as the Taraxacum 88 (designed by Castiglioni). Corti observed the Taraxacum 88’s material construction—only glass, aluminum and light—and a vision formed: Flos would return to Palazzo Visconti for Milan Design Week, with the Taraxacum 88 as the thesis statement of an exhibition that introduced new pieces employing only these elements.
In conjunction with Milan Design Week 2024’s sprawling slate of FuoriSalone installations, “Flos at Palazzo Visconti” runs from 16 to 21 April within (and in contrast to the baroque nature of) Palazzo Visconti. The illuminated immersive installation is introduced by the Taraxacum 88, set within one quadrant of a mesmerizing, mirrored axis portioning up the stunning central hall. Each of the other reflective quarters is dedicated to new releases by Michael Anastassiades, Barber Osgerby and Formafantasma, with tangential rooms of equal beauty revealing further pieces in these collections. The result is not steeped in nostalgia; rather, it’s a translation of the brand’s heritage into powerful works of contemporary design.
Prior to the exhibition, Flos invited all three designers of the new collections to visit the palazzo together to discuss their particular style of collaboration with the brand. From this abundance of talent was born a humorous, informative video work that greets guests upon entry on large-scale, floor-set screens. This media introduction along with stills from the occasion nod to the original captures from 1988.
“I needed to understand what kind of products we had—especially products that we didn’t launch,” Corti says of the archival immersion that led to the image discovery. “Instead, I found these beautiful images. Everyone was elegant, but also enjoying themselves. It wasn’t over-structured. We decided to come back here, to the palazzo, and celebrate this lightness. We work with a lot of talent so this is a celebration of what Flos does in terms of connection with creative minds, not only in terms of our designers but all of the creativity in the process.”
Corti worked with the Barcelona-based studio Arquitectura-G to develop the installation. “I didn’t want to interrupt the baroque style. It’s a strange style for Milan, which is inspired by Rome. Baroque is more rooted in Sicilian or Spanish. But this space is full of illusion—the trompe l’oeil, the balcony, the historic mirrors. We wanted to divide all of this, and multiply it at the same time.” The mirror divider was so carefully crafted that preexisting lines in the room continue unexpectedly in reflection and reality is distorted. This is thanks to rigorous preproduction using a maquette that took into account the movement of light throughout the day, beyond the palazzo’s windows.
Hidden car batteries power some lights so that cords are tucked away and the floor is left uninterrupted. All three collections channel the unique values of their designers. Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby present their curved Bellhop Glass collection, in both suspension and table lamp versions crafted from opaline triplex glass and aluminum. Anastassiades introduces 24-karat-gold finished iterations of his popular IC lamps to celebrate their tenth anniversary. He also reveals a new maxi style. Both Barber Osgerby and Anastassiades’ lamps are composed of blown glass.
In contrast, Formafantasma’s hexagonal pieces, entitled SuperWire, are composed of the purest planar industrial glass and polished aluminum. Inside, thin, replaceable filaments—which stretch one meter—look as if they must be fluorescent but are actually milestone LEDs. This system is modular and comes in iterations that feature three or five angular hubs. “Inside, it’s the longest filament in the world,” Corti says. The floor lamp, which pairs two stacked modules, stands more than five-feet tall.
“The world is full of people and companies and even fashion brands that produce design objects. But to make design exists in another plane,” Corti says. “The effort Flos makes in terms of our designers and their creativity, it is the same way we have always done it. The process is the same but the technology has changed. It is necessary to communicate that. That we are not just about history, but we’re about the future.” Not only does “Flos at Palazzo Visconti” convey that, but so do the company’s two other exhibitions—”Golden Hour” at the Flos Flagship Store and “Out of Office” at the Flos Professional Space—both of which are only steps away from Palazzo Visconti.
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