Imaginative lighting is a longtime hallmark of modern Italian design. Following in the footsteps of innovative companies such as Artemide and Arteluce, the company FLOS brought a fresh aesthetic philosophy to the Italian lighting field in the 1960s, one that would produce several of the iconic floor lamp, table lamp and pendant light designs of the era.
FLOS — Latin for “flower” — was founded in the northern town of Merano in 1962 by Cesare Cassina (of the famed Cassina furniture-making family) and Dino Gavina, a highly cultured businessman who believed that artistic ideas espoused in postwar Italy could inform commercial design. The two enlisted brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni as their first designers.
Even before FLOS was formally incorporated, the Castiglionis gave the firm one of its enduring successes with the Taraxacum pendant and associated designs made by spraying an elastic polymer on a metal armature. (George Nelson had pioneered the technique in the United States in the early 1950s.) For other designs, the brothers found inspiration in everyday objects. Suggestive of streetlights, their Arco floor lamp, with its chrome boom and ball-shaped shade sweeping out from a marble block base, has become a staple of modernist decors. Designing for FLOS since 1966, Tobia Scarpa has also been inspired by the commonplace. His folded-metal Foglio sconces resemble a shirt cuff; his carved marble Biagio table lamp looks like a jai alai basket.
In 1973, FLOS purchased Arteluce, the company founded in 1939 by Gino Sarfatti, and it continues to produce his designs. In recent decades, FLOS has contracted work from several noted designers, including Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison. As instantly recognizable as they are, many FLOS designs remain accessible. While FLOS lighting is the essence of modernity, its sleek, subtle designs can be used to strike a sculptural note in even traditional spaces.
Browse a broad range of FLOS lighting fixtures at 1stDibs.
Flos Pochette Up LED Wall Light by Rodolfo Dordoni
By Rodolfo Dordoni, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Rodolfo Dordoni's work draws inspiration from a Minimalist aesthetic: like Rodolfo Dordoni’s most beloved designs, the Pochette makes good use of less material to create a piece that...
Aluminum
FLOS Long Wall Light in White by Piero Lissoni
By Flos, Piero Lissoni
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Showcasing the artist’s minimalist style, the Long Light by Piero Lissoni is an unassuming fixture that dazzles with a surprising indirect light. The body is painted extruded aluminu...
Aluminum
FLOS Tight Wall Light in White by Piero Lissoni
By Piero Lissoni, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Designed by Piero Lissoni in 2011, the Tight Light plays on the perspective of size with outstanding results. The main body of this wall lamp is made of white painted extruded alumin...
Aluminum
FLOS Clessidra 20° + 20° Indoor Wall Lamp in Glossy White by Antonio Citterio
By Antonio Citterio, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Inspired by the shape of the hourglass, the Clessidra lamp from Antonio Citterio emits diffused direct and indirect light. This stunning wall light has a body made of die-cast alumin...
Aluminum
Flos In Vitro 2700K Non Dimmable LED Wall Scone in White by Philippe Starck
By Flos, Philippe Starck
Located in Brooklyn, NY
An elegant outdoor lighting collection designed by Philippe Starck, In Vitro (translates to inside glass) modernizes the classic lantern into a contemporary structure. The collection...
Aluminum
FLOS Clessidra 40° + 40° Indoor Wall Lamp in Glossy White by Antonio Citterio
By Antonio Citterio
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Inspired by the shape of the hourglass, the Clessidra lamp from Antonio Citterio emits diffused direct and indirect light. This stunning wall light has a body made of die-cast alumin...
Aluminum
Design Studio 63 Wall Lamp 'Kelly' Chromium-Plated by Oluce
By Oluce
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Wall lamp 'Kelly' designed by Design Studio 63 in 2011. Wall lamp giving up & down light in curved laser-cut metal. White lacquered metal wall plate. White lacquered or chromium-plat...
Metal
Firmamento Milano Stick Wall Lamp by Cino Zucchi
By Cino Zucchi, Firmamento Milano
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Please note that VAT is not included in the price. The wall version evokes the light quality and the elegance of stick floor. One version provides for a direct flow of light, the other offers both an indirect and a direct lighting opportunity. Born in Milano in 1955, Cino Zucchi earned a B.S.A.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) in 1978 and a Laurea in Architettura at the Politecnico di Milano in 1979, where he is currently Chair Professor of Architectural and Urban Design. He has been Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2013. He is regularly invited to give lectures and sits on architectural juries both in Italy and abroad. He is the author of the books L’architettura dei cortili milanesi 1535-1706 (Electa 1989), Asnago e Vender...
Steel
Kelly Wall Lamp by Studio 63 for Oluce
By Oluce
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Kelly wall lamp designed by Studio63 for Oluce. Any person who likes simple design will be drawn to this lamp. The Kelly lamp brings elegant light into any ro...
Metal, Chrome
Jacco Maris Solo 26 Wall Light
By Jacco Maris
Located in Yonkers, NY
Jacco Maris’ Solo 26 wall fixture is named after a beloved dog, a wandering hound he found near Pompeii whom he called an Italian wonder-dog—the paw print on the fixture Solo’s signa...
Brass
Giaco Wall Lamp by Studio Orth
Located in Geneve, CH
Giaco Wall Lamp by Studio Orth Dimensions: W 18 x D 12 x H 23 cm Materials: Polished Cast Brass or Polished Cast Aluminum. Finishes: Polished Cast Brass or Polished Cast Aluminum Al...
Crystal, Metal, Steel
Tabu P Wall Lamp by Studio Orth
Located in Geneve, CH
Tabu P Wall Lamp by Studio Orth Dimensions: W 10 x D 10 x H 21 cm Materials: Cast metal. Finishes: Polished Cast Brass or Polished Cast Aluminum Also available in Polished Cast Bras...
Metal
