Malleable OLED technology in a lighting exhibition
Blackbody is an OLED home lighting brand launched in 2010 by the Italian-French company Astron Fiamm. Located in Toulon, France, the company develops and produces OLED-based lighting solutions with the help of established and emerging designers, and for Milan Design Week is presenting a selection of new products as part of the “Wonderoled” exhibition at La Triennale, conceived by Aldo Cibic and Tommaso Corà.
We were struck by the flexibility and incredible range of possibilities that OLED can open to the future of design: the technology lasts 20,000 hours, is 100% recyclable, doesn’t contain any polluting components, is heat-free, glare-free, 2 mm thick and can produce any color of the visible light spectrum. In a way, OLED is both concrete and malleable light, to be shaped and used as a real material that can lead to totally new innovation.
Wonderoled by Blackbody starts with “I.Rain” by Thierry Gaugain, a long-time collaborator of Philippe Stark, who opened his studio in 2011. I.Rain is a modular lighting system wherein each component hangs from the wall shaping clouds from which light falls down like rain.
“Teka” by Aldo Cibic reinterprets the classic cabinet, turning the piece of furniture into a lamp thanks to the addition of a series of light circles. The traditional look of the container is in gentle contrast with its content, creating an object that looks like a new classic.
Nature serves as the inspiration for other two projects by Cibic, “The Wish Tree” and “Blossoms”. “The Wish Tree”, designed in collaboration with Tommaso Corà, is a hanging chandelier, but at the same time a sculptural and minimalistic object. The Cibic design is “Blossoms”, a metallic tree whose branches terminate in imaginary OLED buds.
Wonderoled
17-22 April 2012
Triennale di Milano
Viale Emilio Alemagna 6
20121 Milano, Italy