IT

30
years of
lumiere

Il viaggio di Lumiere attraverso trent'anni di storia

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30
years of
lumiere

Il viaggio di Lumiere attraverso trent'anni di storia

Videos

It was 1990 when Lumiere table lamp was born. Since then, it has accompanied us on a long and extraordinary journey. Years which have gone by fast, in which the world has evolved and experienced momentous transformations. On the occasion of its anniversary, this video project showcases the most important events of the last 30 years, which Lumiere has borne witness to the changes, as a constantly current and relevant icon which has stood the test of time: true to itself yet constantly evolving

Lumiere 30th

1990-2020

Created in 1990, Lumiere has represented the embodiment of the design philosophy of Foscarini and the vision of Rodolfo Dordoni: harmony between tradition and innovation, decoration and technique.

LUMIERE PASTILLES

LUMIERE Bulles

In Lumiere, the combination of two materials of different sensorial impact like glass and metal suggests a space not of boundaries but of relations, where the opposites – emotion and technique – are able to meet.

In that space, Foscarini has constructed the originality of its language, and Lumiere has grown up over time, becoming a true design icon.

Icons stand out for their adaptability, ready for renewal without altering their identity..

In this span of 30 years Lumiere has taken on many different colours and finishes, and today – in its full maturity – it can dare to take on a new look, thanks to two historic glassblowing techniques that enhance the glossy white shade.

Lumiere 30th Bulles / Pastilles

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The surface decoration of Lumiere becomes three-dimensional for the first time: the class remains the same, but takes on new character.

For the 30th anniversary, Lumiere Bulles e Lumiere Pastilles are being offered in a special edition of 1100 pieces, numbered and signed by Rodolfo Dordoni.

In the Pastilles version – by means of blowing the incandescent paste into a special diamond-pattern mould – the glass displays the classic faceted pattern (known as “ballotton”) which gives the surface a perceptible threedimensional texture.

The use of a mould with points, on the other hand, generates the glass of Lumiere Bulles, with a myriad of tiny air bubbles encased between layers of glass.

For both versions, the base is in champagne-colour aluminium.

DETTAGLIO DI LUMIERE PASTILLES

Lumiere 30th provides warm, intense diffused light. It is a lamp that emanates refined elegance, on or off.

It is versatile and adapts to the widest range of settings in terms of style and taste, for both residential and contract applications.

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“...l’idea di questo piccolo treppiedi con la fusione (di alluminio) e il vetro esprimeva, più che il disegno di una lampada, un concetto più generale: come mettere insieme due elementi che fossero la caratteristica dei prodotti futuri dell’azienzda. Questa fu, in pratica, l’intuizione.” — Rodolfo Dordoni, designer di Lumiere

A CONVERSATION WITH

Rodolfo Dordoni

With an array of activities ranging from architecture, to product design, artistic direction, and the setting up of showrooms and exhibitions, Rodolfo Dordoni has put his name to some of the most significant and famous Italian design projects, including Lumiere.

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

It began 25 years ago, so recalling all the people involved calls for an eff ort 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 diff erentiating 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 Anni Luce — Exhibition Lumiere’s journey through 25 years of history 015 Designer — Rodolfo Dordoni 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.