Choose the country or territory you are in to see local content.

English

en

The sculpture-lamp Orbital became the first step in the relationship between Foscarini and Ferruccio Laviani, but it represented also a statement: with Orbital we got away from Murano blown glass for the first time, exploring a way of thinking that has now led to the use of over 20 different technologies.

Were you to narrate your relationship with Foscarini with an adjective, which one would you choose?

I’d choose two: it is a profitable and free collaboration. The first term sounds rather financial, but that is not its only meaning. The fact that almost all the lamps I have designed for Foscarini are still in production is obviously good news for my studio and for the company. But I call it profitable above all because having designed objects people still find appealing after 30 years is an enormous gain for a designer: it confirms that what you are doing has meaning. Then comes the theme of creative freedom. Foscarini has allowed me to move with extreme independence of expression from the product to spaces, without ever setting any limitations. That is truly something rare and precious.

 

In your view, how was it that you arrived at the expressive and creative freedom?

I think it is part of the way of being of the people involved. If a designer wins the company’s trust, Foscarini responds by leaving him total freedom of expression. They know that this is the way to get the best from the cooperation, for both parties. Obviously in the awareness that the work of instinct is then followed by the work of the mind. In my case, Orbital was the initial wager: would a lamp with such a particular aesthetic be a success? Would it stand up to the test of time? The response of the public was affirmative, and from that moment on our partnership has always been based on maximum freedom.

What does this liberty mean for a designer?

It gives you the possibility of probing different facets of the possible. For a person like me, who has never identified with one style or a particular type of taste, but periodically falls in love with avours, atmospheres and decorative aspects that are always different, this freedom is fundamental because it allows me to express myself. I do not have artistic pretences and I am well aware of the fact that what I do is for production: serial objects that have to have a clear function and perform it well. Alongside these rational considerations, however, what excites me in the creative act is desire. The almost irrepressible desire to bring about an object that did not exist: something I would like to have, as a part of my life.

What are these objects you desire, and therefore design, going to be like?

I don’t have an answer in terms of style: I always make different things because I always feel different, and I fill my physical and mental spaces with presences that vary in time and reect these personal landscapes. I am fascinated, however, by everything that creates a bond with people or between people. I always give a character to the things I design: the one that in my view best reects my way of interpreting the spirit of the time. Sometimes of the instant. This is much more true for a lamp, as opposed to a piece of furniture, because a decorative lamp is chosen for an affinity, for what it says to us and about us. It is the start of an ideal dialogue between designer and consumer. If the lamp continues to speak to people over time, even 30 years later, it means the conversation is relevant, and the lamp is still able to say something meaningful.

The event for the thirtieth anniversary of Orbital was also an opportunity to present the new creative project NOTTURNO LAVIANI with an exhibition at Foscarini Spazio Monforte. A photographic series in which Gianluca Vassallo interprets the lamps Laviani has designed for Foscarini in a storytelling that unfolds in fourteen episodes in which the lamps inhabit alien spaces.

Discover more about Notturno Laviani

What do you feel when you see the interpretation Gianluca Vassallo has made of your lamps?

The sensation is that of a circle coming to a close. Because Gianluca narrates his idea of light by using the objects I have designed as subtle but significant presences. Which is the same thing that happens when a person decides to put one of my lamps into their home. Looking at Notturno, then, I feel the same great emotion I feel when someone takes possession of one of my projects, or makes it a part of their existence: the sensation is that beautiful feeling of having done something that has meaning and relevance for others.

 

Which photo represents you best?

Definitely the one of Orbital outside: the yover with the torn circus poster. Because that’s what I’m like: everything and its opposite.

E-Book

30 Years of Orbital
— Foscarini Design stories
Creativity & Freedom

Download the exclusive e-book Foscarini Design stories — 30 years of Orbital and learn more about the collaboration between Foscarini and Laviani.
A fertile interchange, based on elective affinities, extending across three decades as a pathway of mutual growth.

Do you want to take a peek?

Mite is the lamp that marked the beginning of what has become a long-term collaboration between Foscarini and Marc Sadler: a project that disrupts the usual schemes, indulging in what the designer defines as “unreasonable urges”, an attitude that permits exploration of all the potentialities of a material and a technology.

In 2001 Mite won the Compasso d’Oro ADI – the most authoritative global design prize – together with the suspension version, Tite. Twenty years have passed since then, and we think this event, like the iconic and timeless character of Mite, deserves appropriate celebration. The result is Mite Anniversario, an evolution of the original Mite concept based on ulterior experimentation and variation. In this important occasion, we have interviewed Marc Sadler and had an interesting chat about Mite, Tite, and lighting design.

 

HOW DID THE COLLABORATION WITH FOSCARINI FOR THE MITE LAMP BEGIN?

MS — “I got to know Foscarini in a period when I was living in Venice, and Mite was the first project we developed together. For me, Foscarini was a small company that made glass, a focus that was quite different from what I was doing. One day I met one of the partners by chance, on a vaporetto. Conversing about our work, he told me about a theme that was on his mind at the time. He asked me to think about a project that would have the sense of uncertainty of glass – that handmade aspect that is impossible to control and grants every object its own personality – but could also be industrially produced, in a coordinated vision. We parted with a promise to think about the idea.”

 

WHAT WAS THE MAIN CONCEPT BEHIND THE PROJECT?

MS — “I was going to Taiwan for a project of tennis rackets and golf clubs, for a company that works with fibreglass and carbon fibre. That’s a world in which products are made in large numbers, not just a few specimens. When it is produced, when it comes out of the moulds, the racket is gorgeous; then the workers start to clean it, to finish it, to paint it, covering it with graphic elements, and it gradually loses part of the appeal of the production phase. In the end, you have an object covered with signs that conceal its true structure, and the final product – in my view – is always less interesting than it was in the initial phase. In my work as a designer, I prefer the product in its raw state, prior to the finishing, when it is still a “mythical”, beautiful thing, because the material vibrates. Looking at these pieces against the light, you can see the fibres, and I noticed the way the light passed through the material. I took some samples and brought them to Venice. As soon as I got back I called Foscarini, and told them I was thinking about a way to use this material. Although the fibreglass, made of patches of material, has limits in the uncertainties of its workmanship, I was thinking about an object for industrial production. Proposing it to them was rather risky, because large production quantities would be necessary to justify its use, and the material is not very versatile and adaptable. Nevertheless, if we were able to keep it in that fascinating material state, it would be a great opportunity for application to a lighting project.”

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PHASE?

MS — “We rang a lot of doorbells of suppliers who used the same materials and techniques to produce wine vats or sporting goods, but unfortunately they were not willing to collaborate on this experimental research. But we were not discouraged, and we continued to search until we found an entrepreneur who also worked with this material for his own, personal pursuits (he had built a motorized hang-glider). He was enthusiastic about the project and immediately wanted to cooperate on it. He had a company that produces extraordinary, very special fishing rods, but he decided to take the leap with us into the world of lighting. He sent us trial samples, which he made on his own, asking our opinion on new resins and new threads. Design is made by people who act and interact, together. This is a totally Italian kind of magic. In the rest of the world, companies often wait for the designer to arrive, like a superhero, ready to deliver something that is already done, ready for implementation. But that is not how it works: to make truly innovative projects, there has to be on-going dialogue, a process where problems arise and are solved together. I prefer that way of working.”

 

DID YOU MAKE MODELS AND PROTOTYPES FOR STUDY?

MS — “The first model was made with a traditional closed mould, but then it occurred to us that we could try another technique – “rowing” – based on the wrapping of threads around a full volume. Observing the threads that could be used, I found some bundles that were considered defective, where the thread was not perfectly linear, but seemed a little vibrated. This type of thread became the resource for the final production. The fibres are not all uniform: we wanted to utilize this “defect” which makes each lamp have a unique quality. We wanted to get away from the technical aspect, to bring the value of craftsmanship and a warm sense of material back into play, which is something people know how to do in Italy.” In an initial prototype, I had cut off the top at a 45° angle, inserting a car headlight. If I look at that first prototype again today it bothers me a little, but that’s absolutely normal because it represents the beginning of a long search path. To reach a simple product, a lot of work is required. At first, my sign was too strong, almost violent. Foscarini was very good at mediating it, and that’s just right, that’s what design is all about. It means striking the right balance between the parties on the field to work together on a common endeavour. Only by working with Foscarini, who knows how to treat light, who knows how to add taste to transparencies and warmth to texture, were we successful in making sure the product achieved its proper proportion and authenticity. We managed to get a much cleaner, clear-cut object, so the important thing is the light it produces, the transparency of the body and the vibration that can be seen in its design. Not an object that screams out loud, but rather a gentle element that glides into homes.”

 

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES IN A PROJECT INVOLVING LIGHT?

MS — “After this lamp and after this approach to composite materials, I got back to some extent to the label of the designer who makes lamps with novel materials. This doesn’t bother me, and in fact it is what we love doing, together with Foscarini. So today, if in my research I find something interesting, or something that has not yet been utilized in the world of lighting, Foscarini is the company with which I can have the best chance of developing something original and innovative.”

 

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY USED IN THIS PROJECT?

MS — “Over the last 20 years, lighting technology has evolved a great deal, and now we use LEDs. With respect to the technology of the past, it is a bit like the difference between electronic injection and a carburettor. You could achieve excellent results with a carburettor, but it took a genius who knew how to listen to motors, and how to tune them by hand. For Mite something similar happened. In the first version we inserted a rather long light bulb, positioned at a certain height. To close the trunk, we shaped a circular chrome-finished metal plate, experimenting with ifferent angles, to reflect the direct light upward but also to make the light go down in the body of the lamp, letting it run over the material, with a back-lighting effect. Obviously that technology created limits of freedom of action, while today with LEDs we can take the luminous effect wherever we want it.”

 

HOW HAS THE WORK OF DESIGNERS CHANGED DURING THESE FIRST TWO DECADES OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM?

MS — “I am happy with my work today because its seems like a return to the 1970s, when the entrepreneur had an important role and expressed clear intentions made of objectives, a schedule, the right budget, and knowing that he had worked well up to that point, wanted to go further, somewhere he had never gone before. Perhaps it is this very arduous moment of the pandemic, perhaps it is because I am starting to get tired of working with large multinational and oriental corporations, but I think the time has come to get back to direct, personal work with entrepreneurs.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS “TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER” IN DESIGN RESEARCH?

MS — “It’s fundamental. My work could be seen in terms of the principle of communicating vessels. I take something from one place, and I ‘pull’ it into another place, to see what happens. I have always done this, for my whole life. In my studio we have a workshop where with my hands I can build or repair anything, and this helps me a lot. It is not the concept of the ‘sky’s the limit’, but I think a lot before saying no to something, because often there are already solutions that exist elsewhere, so it is enough to know how to transfer them.”

 

THIS LAMP IS MADE OF A SELF-SUPPORTING (TECHNOLOGICAL) “WEAVE”: WHAT IDEA IS SHARED BY TEXTILES WITH THE DESIGN OF LIGHTING?

MS — “In Mite the importance of the fabric comes from the advantage of being able to have a weave that vibrates the light when it passes through the body of the lamp, so it was no simple task to find the right fabric. But with the fabric, in its infinite variables, you can always do marvellous things with light, and in fact with Foscarini we are continuing to experiment and to develop new projects.”

 

WHAT DOES THE NAME MITE MEAN, AND ITS SUSPENSION VARIANT, TITE?

MS — “The name comes from a word game in French, which my mother taught me when I was a boy, to help me remember the differencebetween mineral formations in caves, divided into those that grow from the bottom up, the stalagmites, and those that descend from above, the stalactites. Hence the idea for the name. While initially I was thinking about the logic of a form that tapers as it gets further away from the floor or ceiling – so the names of the two lamps had to be reversed – this logic works well for its typological affinities too: the (stalag)MITE rests on thefloor, and the (stalac)TITE hangs from the ceiling.”

It was in 1990 that Foscarini fi rst introduced its blown glass lamp, combined with an aluminium tripod, the result of a collaboration with designer Rodolfo Dordoni who reinterpreted the classic lamp shade in a new light. Its name? Lumiere.

Discover Lumiere

When and how did the Lumiere project begin (the spark, the people involved at the start)?

It began many years ago, so recalling all the people involved calls for an effort of memory that isn’t easy at my age, perhaps. I can tell you about the context, though. It was a period in which I had started working with Foscarini on a sort of corporate overhaul. They had called me in to coordinate things, which could mean a sort of art direction of the new collection, because they wanted to change the company’s approach.
Foscarini was a pseudo-Muranese business, in the sense that its home was Murano, but its mentality was not exclusively rooted there. We began to work on this concept: to conserve the company’s identity (that of its origins, therefore Murano and glass) while differentiating it from the attitudes of the other Murano-based fi rms (i.e. furnaces, blown glass), trying to add technological details to the product to give it character, making Foscarini into a “lighting” company, more than a producer of blown glass. This was the guiding concept for the Foscarini of the future, at the time.

 

Where was Lumiere invented? What led to its form-function (design constraints, the materials: blown glass and aluminium)?

Based on the guideline I have just described, we began to imagine and design products during our meetings. At one of those meetings – I think we were still in the old Murano headquarters – I made a sketch on a piece of paper, a very small drawing, it must have been about 2 x 4 cm: this glass hat with a tripod, just to convey the idea of combining glass and casting, because the casting of aluminium was a very contemporary, new idea at the time. So this little tripod with the casting and the glass wasn’t so much the design of a lamp as a drawing of a more general concept: “how to put together two elements that would represent the characteristics of the company’s future products”. In practice, that was the intuition.

 

One moment you remember more than others in the story of Lumiere (a conversation with the client, testing in the company, the first prototype)?

Well, definetely the moment when Alessandro Vecchiato and Carlo Urbinati showed interest in my sketch, in that intuition. I remember that Sandro took a look at the drawing and said: “That’s nice, we should make it”. The product was immediately glimpsed in that sketch. And I too thought the drawing could become a real product. So Lumiere was born.

 

We live in a society of rapid obsolescence. How does it feel to have designed a success that has continued for 25 years?

Those were truly diff erent times. When you designed something, the considerations of companies were also made in terms of investment, of its amortisation over time. So the things you designed were more extensively thought out. What has changed today is not the companies but the market, the attitude of the consumer, who has become more “mercurial”. Today’s consumer has been infl uenced by other merchandise sectors (i.e. fashion and technology) not to desire “lasting” things. So the expectations companies have regarding products are also defi nitely more short-term. When a product (like Lumiere) has such a long life in terms of sales, it means it is self-suffi cient, a product that wasn’t necessarily paying attention to trends, at the moment. That is precisely what makes it appealing, somehow. It brings pleasure, to the person who buys it and the person who designed it. Personally, I am pleased that Lumiere is a “sign” that is still recognizable, still has appeal: 25 years are a long time!

 

How has this context “made its mark” – if indeed it has – on the skin and mind of Rodolfo Dordoni, man and architect?

I think about two important moments that infl uenced my work. The fi rst is the encounter with Giulio Cappellini, who was my classmate at the university. After graduation, he asked me to work in his company. Thanks to this encounter I was able to learn about the world of design “from the inside”. I worked for 10 years, getting to know about all the aspects of the furniture sector. So my background is that of someone who knows, “in practice”, about the entire chain of design production. This led directly to the second of my important moments. Thanks to this practical experience, this work in the fi eld, when companies turn to me they know that they are not just asking for a product, but also for a line of reasoning. And often this reasoning leads to the construction of relationships with companies that become long discussions, long conversations, which help you to know the company. Knowing the company is a fundamental factor to analyse a project. I like to work – I’m a bit spoiled, in this sense – with people with whom I share similar intentions, similar goals to achieve. Then you have the possibility of growing together.

 

The Nineties:a Google search brings up the Spice Girls, Take That, Jovanotti with “È qui la festa?”, but also “Nevermind” by Nirvana and the track by Underworld in the soundtrack of the fi lm Trainspotting, “Born Slippy”. What comes to mind if you think about your experience of the Nineties?

For me the Nineties were the start of a progressive technological misunderstanding. Meaning that I started to no longer understand everything that happened from the vinyl LP onward, in music, technologically speaking. I often think back on how I criticized my father, when I was a kid, for being technologically backward. Compared to the way I am nowadays, his backwardness was nothing, if I think about my “technological inadequacy” as opposed to my nephews, for example. We might say that the Nineties were the start of my “technological isolation”!

 

What has remained constant for Rodolfo Dordoni the designer?

Drawing. The sketch. The line.

Choose Your Country or Region

Europe

Americas

Asia

Africa