Founded in 1981 on the Venetian Island of Murano, the Italian lighting brand Foscarini is known for their collaborations with Patricia Urquiola and Rodolfo Dordoni, the iconic design collections Caboche, Buds and Twiggy, and an innovative approach to materials and manufacturing. In a two-part series, More Space dives into Foscarini’s distinctive vision and creativity hub, that now includes the evocative lighting group Ingo Maurer, and their deep interest in our emotive responses to light.
Two simple words explain the opus operandi of lighting brand Foscarini – ‘create’ and ‘light'. As the Italian group remarks, these two words are the essence of the brand and when placed together, they express the vision of a company that has its roots in Murano, Venice, where know-how and provenance run deep, and imagination and mastery is everything.
At Foscarini, lights are conceived as design objects to transform spaces, to bring beauty, and to stir emotions. For Foscarini, lights should change everything. Known for their collaborations with the world’s best designers – Patricia Urquiola, Rodolfo Dordoni, Tord Boontje, Luca Nichetto and Ferruccio Laviani, to name a few, their magical lighting collections are brought to life via vast creative installations during Milan Design Week. This past April they filled their Milan showroom on Spazio Monforte with an abundant wild garden overflowing with plants and native grasses for (Im)possible Natures, designed by their creative director Laviani.
The well-curated 2023 collection features lights that represent the gamut of Foscarini’s design freedom, always driven by experimentation. Rodolfo Dordoni’s Chapeaux table lamp in metal, blown glass and porcelain that appeared to float over its base; a battery powered lamp called Fleur that doubles as a vase; and Pli, a lamp designed by Danish designer Felicia Arvid whose background in architecture and fashion informs its soft folds. Here, the light source’s LED strip was wrapped by a thin perforated sheet creating a series of sensual waves, one in wood and the other in paper, creating different luminous effects. 'In the common imagination, lamps combine a body and a lampshade, inside which a light source is inserted,’ remarked Arvid at the launch. 'I chose to start from the latter, building around it… My goal was to obtain a soft and non-invasive light”.
The soft and sensuous form of the Pli lamp by Danish architect and designer Felicia Arvid launched at the Salone del Mobile 2023. Here, and following, images c/o Foscarini.
Foscarini has always pushed conventions. As part of the brand’s focus on experimenting with lighting design and understanding the experiences we have with light itself, in 2020 they launched VITE (Lives), an immersive and ongoing film project that as Foscarini remarks, puts real people at the centre of the story. Instead of starting with the lamp, and those who designed, developed and produced it, the series of ten short films (so far), goes inside homes in New York, Naples, Shanghai and Copenhagen, to understand more about how light shapes our daily lives. This year they followed it up with ‘What’s in a lamp?’, inviting international artists to respond to the Foscarini collection via their socials feed. The results are full of colour and personal interpretations, fresh narrative and emotions.
'Foscarini is a company that thrives on ideas, curiosity, the desire to experiment and experience,’ remarks Carlo Urbinati, the designer who joined the company in the late 1980s and is now its president. 'We were looking for a different and more distinctive storytelling… This new digital project will grant space for original content that, through visual impressions where our light is the protagonist, will enable us to discover the power of ideas.’
The Big Bang suspension light designed by Enrico Franzolino and Vicenzo Garcia Jimenez for Foscarini has a strong sculptural form that gives it presence day and night. Photographed in New York for the VITE (Lives) series, image c/o Foscarini.
'Foscarini is a company that thrives on ideas, curiosity, the desire to experiment and experience...’
Carlo Urbinati, President, Foscarini
That conviction was expanded again, when Foscarini invested in the German lighting company Ingo Maurer, bringing the iconic brand into its creativity hub. Known for its spectacularly inventive designs and lighting systems that are designed and made using traditional craft processes at their headquarters in Munich, Ingo Maurer has also gained international attention for its special project division that produces huge outdoor lighting installations – notably Torre Velasca Blu that turned Milan’s famous modernist tower magenta, Unicef Crystal Snowflake in New York, and most recently, the Porta Nuova installation for Milan Design Week.
'Foscarini stands on the market as a global hub of creativity in the decorative lighting design sector, the sum of various creative freedoms that are reflected in extremely expressive proposals with strong personality,’ Carlo Urbinati remarked at the announcement. 'With this step we have decided to invest in the uniqueness of the Ingo Maurer name, a brand that for us has always been a source of great inspiration and that we have always admired for its free vision and creative approach.’
The Aplomb lighting collection, here and following, made of a specially formulated concrete and designed by Paolo Lucidi and Luca Pevere. Photos c/o Foscarini.
The Buds 2 table lamp designed by Rodolfo Dordoni for Foscarini. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Kurage table lamp desgined by Nendo for Foscarini and made from Japanese washi paper. Photo c/o Foscarini.
Foscarini's Chouchin 1 & 2 supension lamps by Ionna Vautrin, left, and the Allegretto Vivace suspension lamp, right, by Studio Oi. Photograph taken in Shanghai for VITE (lives), photo c/o Foscarini.
The Spokes 1 and 2 lights designed by Studio Garcia Cumino for Foscarini. Photo c/o Foscarini.
Foscarini's new wireless table lamp 'Fleur' designed by Rodolfo Dordoni is both a light and a vase. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Foscarini (Im)Possibles installation at Milan Design Week featured a wild garden and the new Fregio light by Andrea Anastasio in collaboration with the historical Gatti workshop and the 'expressive possibilities' of ceramics. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Caboche floor lamp designed by Patricia Urquiola. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Gregg lamps designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The iconic light Twiggy designed by Marc Sadler. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Satellight lamp by Eugeni Quittlet with a dimmable LED that transmits a soft, warm glow. Photographed for the VITE (Lives) series in Shanghai. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Rituals lamps designed by Roberta + Rodolfo Palomba, here and following, made of Venetian glass are reminiscent of traditional paper lamps. Photos c/o Foscarini.
The Caboche suspension lamp designed by Patricia Urquiola. Photo c/o Foscarini.
The Gregg lights in all their combinations. Photo c/o Foscarini.
'With this step we have decided to invest in the uniqueness of the Ingo Maurer name, a brand that for us has always been a source of great inspiration and that we have always admired for its free vision and creative approach.’
Carlo Urbinati, President, Foscarini
The iconic Zettel'z pendent light by Ingo Maurer. Photo c/o Ingo Maurer.
Lucellino table lamp by Ingo Maurer. Photo c/o Ingo Maurer.
As one of the first Italian companies in the lighting sector to obtain ISO certification, guaranteeing the quality of their entire production process, and backing that up 10 years ago with environmental certification to reduce the impact of their activities, the approach underpins the output of both Foscarini and Ingo Maurer, every project begins without production constraints. It’s this methodology that translates into freedom of ideas, and a long line of designers eager to collaborate.
In part two of More Space's feature series on Foscarini, we meet Carlo Urbinati, designer, innovator and president of Foscarini, and discuss his favourite design pieces and collaborations, breakthrough innovations, and the power of storytelling. Stay tuned.
Foscarini is available exclusively in South East Asia from Space – Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and Space – Australia.
