Design formuLa | Lighting
Clockwise from top left: Denq lamp by Toshiyuki Kita for Oluce; Lampe de Marseille by Le Corbusier for Nemo – Cassina; Grasshopper floor lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman for Gubi
“All roads lead to Milan,” say Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz, the hard-working trends team at Seymourpowell. “Milan is both geographically and aesthetically the centre of the emerging design universe. The cultural zeitgeist forms here first. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Salone del Mobile and we were keen to explore the broader relationships between cutting-edge design and the cultural trends that surround them.” They were not alone. Design lovers flocked in their thousands to this year’s Salone del Mobile in February, which welcomed the return of Euroluce, the bi-annual international lighting exhibition that strives – and consistently succeeds – to bring the big hitters of the lighting industry under one roof. In 2009, Euroluce was dominated by discussions about the new EU legislation to phase out the use of incandescent light bulbs from September of that year. Two years on, lighting manufacturers have faced their fears and updated many of their catalogue pieces to create new designs according to the latest lighting directives. identity takes a closer look at some of the most innovating designs on show.
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identity [interior/design/property]
Looking Back
A sense of nostalgia was palpable at Euroluce, where a number of manufacturers resurrected classic designs. Danish manufacturer Gubi reissued Greta Magnusson-Grossman’s 1947 Grasshopper lamp, popular in 1940s owing to the pure simplicity of its tubular steel tripod stand supporting an elongated aluminium conical shade. Cassina’s lighting brand Nemo resurrected designs by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand. Corbusier’s highly functional Lampe de Marseille from 1954 takes its cue from the industrial lighting of its time, while Perriand’s practical 1962 Applique à Volet Pivotant wall lamp features a pivoting screen that directs the light according to the user’s need. Classic designs of yesteryear were complemented by classic designs of tomorrow. Toshiyuki Kita’s Denq lamp for Oluce is a simple, almost sculptural design that is intentionally timeless and detached from current fashion trends (a prerequisite for future classic designs). Ones to watch also include FontanaArte’s monolithic Building floor lamp by Italian designer Marco Acerbis, which is created