From left The 60th
anniversary of the Arco was celebrated with a limited edition named the Arco K. Rather than the marble base in the original, this 2022 version used crystal
LIGHT + TECH 117
broomstick-like piece of wood is an endearingly practical but whimsical touch.
Flos marked the 40th anniversary of the Arco – and its own founding – with a limited edition of the luminaire featuring a black marble base. For the 60th anniversary, celebrated at the end of last year, it released a new limited edition, the Arco K. For this iteration the marble base has become crystal. The aim was to use a material for the base that was ‘recyclable, heavy, refined and technical at the same time’. The result is a lead-free crystal. The material and manufacturing process would not have been possible 60 years ago. Its transparency displays the mechanics of the lamp and reveals its operation and principle.
‘Design shouldn’t be trendy. Good design should last over time, until it wears out’ Achille Castiglioni
humour. His oft-repeated maxim, ‘Start from scratch. Stick to common sense. Know your goals and means’, rather says it all. ‘We thought of a lamp that projected the light on the table: there were some already, but we had to turn around them,’ he once explained. ‘In order to leave space around the table, the base had to be at least two metres away. This is how the idea of the arch was born: we wanted to do it with products that were already on the market, and we found that the bent steel section went very well.
‘Then there was the problem of the counterweight,’ he added. ‘It needed a heavy mass that supported everything. We thought of cement first, but then we chose marble because, at the same weight, it allowed a smaller size and therefore, in relation to a greater finish, a lower cost.'
The hole he created in the marble base of the Arco that allows it to be carted about with a
The crystal is commonly used for optical prisms in labs, laser generators and small gadgets that require 3D laser inside engraving, and the challenge was to scale up the material from these applications to a much larger mass, while still maintaining the same high-precision in the delivery. The solution involved custom-built machinery. The high precision of the shape that was achieved also makes the piece dificult to replicate by plagiarists because it requires a long working process. A slight adjustment to the original concept is the spiral spring that has been added around the fixing pin to ensure that the internal glass is protected from accidental scratches. The lower part of the block rests on a black mat, invisible to the naked eye thanks to the play of reflections created in the K9 crystal block. And instead of the broomstick, Arco K is shipped with a special, shorter wooden support that resembles a rolling pin, with the central part covered with an anti-scratch layer to avoid the risk of damaging the crystal when moved. In other respects, the Arco K design is unchanged from the original: the stem is a metal profile with a U section, adjustable in three positions. The light source is a ‘light bulb’ with a semi-silver cap, albeit LED. The shell is made up of a solid and a perforated part, the holes designed to allow ventilation and avoid overheating, and creating a characteristic ceiling pattern.
The special edition of 2022 numbered pieces can only be ordered online (on the Flos website for £8,400). Flos has developed a particular encrypted NFC traceability system, which guarantees collectors the originality and uniqueness of each numbered piece.
ALL IMAGES: MATTIA BALSAMINI
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125
