New Flos Shop-in-a-Shop

DWELL Magazine
written by Jamie Gross


Flos, the Italian lighting company that collaborates with many of the best designers working today, recently opened a San Francisco "store"—a shop within the cavernous DZINE design showroom. I was fortunate to visit the space on opening day, when Flos CEO and Chairman Piero Gandini and designer Ron Gilad were present, and I had the chance to sit down and talk with them about Flos's new retail approach and the company's latest designs.

As Gandini pointed out, this was the first time in America that the company was able to integrate their three lines—their decorative line, architectural products, and "soft architecture line"—into one space. I was particularly intrigued with the company's "soft architecture" concept, which they introduced in Milan in 2010. "Normally you put a sconce on a wall," Gandini pointed out. "Here, the two elements—architecture and light—diffuse into each other. It's a totally new dimension of architecture. Architecture is made to accept and give light."

A corner of DZINE was given over to Flos's shop-in-a-shop, which included this installation of Gilad's Wallpiercings.

Gilad, the Tel Aviv-born, New York City-based designer, showed me some of the products he's created for that line, including Wallpiercing: a semi-circular ring that appears to "pierce" the wall, and which you can arrange in a variety or forms, including a long chain, an interlocked ring, or as shown in DZINE, a series of four loops, repeated across a wall.

"All the engineering is inside the wall," Gilad pointed out. "You buy a piece of the wall" (the fixture embedded into a piece of drywall) and inset it into your existing wall, then plaster around it to cover up the seams.

Piero Gandini (left) and designer Ron Gilad.

An adjacent wall was dedicated to other examples of Soft Architecture, including a scattering of Round Lights and Sebastian Wrong's Spun Light. All the lights, including the Wallpiercing series, were on a computerized cycle of different colors, giving this corner of the showroom a kind of nightclub feel.

Two of Sebastian Wrong's Spun Lights hover over the floor, beneath three glowing Circle Lights. The lights cycled through a spectrum of colors.

Like 90% of all the new lights Flos has introduced in the past year, all of these pieces are LED-based. Though Gandini thinks LED technology still has a ways to go before it is able to provide the same light quality of incandescents, Flos is investing in the technology, trying to "push the technology to serve people."

A closer look at a Wallpiercing.


Another value of Flos is giving the designers they work with total creative freedom. "Flos is a total product-driven company," said Gandini. "We don't do market research, we develop pure products with the most creative minds around. We never worry 'will this be a success or not? Is this good or bad?' We just follow innovative ideas. We strongly believe in the talent we work with. In each piece you see the voice of the designer."

"Flos is so innovative, there are no limits," said Gilad. "Designers have the total freedom of dreaming. It's the closest a company can be to the joy of being back in the academy."

Another look at the Soft Architecture in action.


Gilad also showed me some of his designs from his Decorative line, including his clever Mini Teca Renaissance Cupola (a bit twee for me, but certainly charming) and the sleek Light Spring, a wall-mounted LED fixture whose head can be rotated 45 degrees on its vertical axis. As Gilad explains: "Power LEDs have become an excellent and functional source of lighting. The Lightspring collection has been created from 3D designs that reproduce classic candelabras and sconce lights."

Like many of Gilad's designs this light combines wit and aesthetic, with the abstract and the functional. The fabric shade seemingly floats in an acrylic box, and is lit by a halogen lamp creating diffused light.

Light Spring forms part of a series of wall lamps by Flos which feature a very simple and linear design and a die-cast, painted tubular aluminum body.

Architectural Record - Axelrod Architects

Executive Suite: A modern retreat creates a quiet place to escape the noise of a cardboard factory.

By Clifford A. Pearson
Photo © Amit Geron

Commissioned to design a small suite of offices in a noisy cardboard factory near Ben Gurion Airport, in Israel, architect Irit Axelrod decided to create an interior that asserts a sense of “quiet power.” So she used materials like concrete, glass, and stainless steel in ways that emphasize both their industrial roots and their sophisticated finishes.


Visitors enter the new offices of the Cargal Group from an indoor walkway above the factory floor, where enormous machines crank out cardboard packaging and forklifts scurry from one place to another. To separate the 2,000-square-foot office space from the racket of the manufacturing facility, Axelrod erected a concrete-block wall that provides acoustical privacy and a rugged sense of enclosure.

“When the project was completed, I realized I had created a serene bubble in the middle of a factory,” she explains. But she connected the loud and quiet parts of the building with a 30-foot-long band of glass cut into the thick concrete wall just 3 feet above the office floor. At first the height of the horizontal window seems a bit odd, as if a Japanese aesthetic had somehow infiltrated the design. Then you sit in one of the offices on the opposite side of the lobby/reception area and understand the height is just right, providing an important visual link between executives and factory workers.

Axelrod, who splits her time between Israel and San Francisco, says that growing up in Tel Aviv, with all of its early 20th-century, International Style architecture, influenced her approach to design. “Tel Aviv's origins are in the Bauhaus. As a child, these were the buildings I saw every day.” The rigor of the buildings finds expression in the Cargal project's floor plan, a straightforward set of squares and rectangles. Private offices line the building's perimeter to take advantage of the daylight, while the long lobby/reception area flows into a kitchenette equipped with a freestanding plywood counter and metal stools. Floor-to-ceiling glass separates the private offices from the public areas while maintaining visual continuity and sharing daylight with the rest of the interior. Sustainability was not a major driver of the design, says Axelrod, but maximizing the use of daylight creates a more pleasant work environment and reduces operating costs.

While the plan and hard-edged materials express a sense of discipline, the architect loosened things up on the lobby's angled ceiling, where long fluorescent tubes seem to be randomly placed. “I wanted the ceiling to be more playful to provide a contrast,” explains Axelrod. “That's where I decided to break all the rules.” She specified a fluorescent lighting system that offers custom lengths and can be used either horizontally (on the ceiling) or vertically (on the concrete-block wall and in the kitchenette).


To make the small project seem bigger, Axelrod carried views from one space to another. Although executives can pull down privacy shades in their offices, they rarely do, preferring instead to maximize their visual domain. The architect also designed particular elements to give them the illusion of floating. She set the wooden reception desk on a smaller base and placed lights on the underside to shine on the floor and make it levitate. In a conference room at one end of the suite, she inserted a thin vertical strip of glass between perpendicular walls so they don't quite touch. And she attached stainless steel handles and hardware directly onto glass doors so they seem suspended in space. Such instances of elements floating and sliding past one another provide a welcome contrast to the solidity of polished concrete floors and concrete-block walls. They work together to establish a balance between the muscular and the nimble.

For furnishings, Axelrod selected a simple mix of molded-plastic Eames chairs, adjustable Meda chairs for the executives, and Joyn tables. She used a restrained color palette of whites, off-whites, and grays with occasional accents of black and clear-stained wood. In the lobby, three Gehry cardboard stools add a playful touch and remind everyone of the packaging material being produced in the adjacent factory.

What gives this project much of its character is the intriguing dialogue between sophistication and bottom-line toughness. As soon as you walk in the office from the factory, you know you're in a different kind of place, one where aesthetics matter. But you never feel that anything is wasted or put here for show. You might admire the poured-concrete floors, which, like those in art galleries, have no expansion joints, so the material develops those lovely cracks. But you'll also notice the large ventilation duct running through the lobby/reception area, exposed in a no-nonsense manner. And the simple plywood cabinets built into the private offices. The people working here have good taste, but they aren't squandering money.

The subtle back-and-forth between the slick and the rugged speaks to the key challenge of this design: creating a white-collar place within a blue-collar world.

Window Shopping: Nicole Hollis at DZINE

CA Home & Design
by Erin Feher

The imaginative vignettes at San Francsico's Dzine always mix the latest in European design with owner Cardenio Petrucci's ingenious styling sense (think rotary phones and bundled newspapers). But to show off the latest offerings from Flos, he called in some professional help. Nicole Hollis created Dzine's premiere window display as part of what Petrucci hopes is a series of installations by the best Bay Area designers.


Hollis' muse was the Piani lamp by the Bouroullec Brothers, Erwan and Ronan, for Flos. Her playfully schizophrenic creation features shelves for six different personalities.

See full article here.

Interview with Ron Gilad at DZINE

In occasion of the launch of FLOS San Francisco at DZINE, Ron Gilad introduced his "Wall Piercing" in the following interview.


Flos Lighting: Interview with Ron Gilad from DZINE store on Vimeo.

Below are some of the showroom installation images.

1. For new construction space the Wall Piercings in the desired configuration allowing for enough space between the panels so the 'Piercing' rings will not hit each other.

2. Fix the drywall up against the back panels for the Wall Piercings.  Tape around the back panels with fiberglass tape and then mud in

3. Add two filler layers and one finisher layer to create a seamless transition from the back panels of the Wall Piercing and the drywall.

4. Finish by painting the wall and installing the 'Piercing' rings.



Flos opens SF store inside DZINE showroom

Beth Hughes, Special to The Chronicle
Sunday, December 25, 2011

Flos, the Italian lighting company, prides itself on working with the luminaries of design for 50 years - Achille Castiglioni, Gino Sarfatti and Patricia Urquiola, to name a few.

The company started in 1962 with the idea of producing "modern lighting" and "developing new lighting concepts," according to its official history. In 1964, Sergio Gandini joined the outfit.

"It was a small company, but in the minds of the people, it could be built up consistently," says Piero Gandini, who has been the CEO since 1999.

Which is what happened.

The first Flos retail store opened in Milan in 1968. The first foreign subsidiary opened in Germany in 1971.

"In a way, to do something so new, it was practically exotic," says Gandini. "Fifty years later, (the company) is still growing, still keeping the free, crazy vision. I think we're a little bit crazy, yes, I think that's the trick."

Their collaborative efforts are well known. Often designers go to the company with ideas, saying "I have a dream, but I know it is impossible," says Gandini. "We say, 'Why is it impossible?' We believe in the creative mind, and so before we say, 'No, it is not possible,' we like to explore it. We like to see the energy, and if we realize there is something strong from the emotional point of view, from the functional point of view, from the lighting point of view, we really like to get there. Normally, we win the battle."

Flos opened its latest retail venture late last month, a store within the DZine showroom on Utah Street. "It's a city that has always been sensitive to design and creativity," says Gandini. "It's a beautiful city, astonishingly beautiful, so this ... was a natural decision."

The company with products priced from just over $100 to $16,000, opened a New York stand-alone store in 2010, and a Los Angeles store in June, according to Jan Vingerhoets, CEO of Flos North America.

He said that some Flos customers "are affected by the economy; some are not. We have quite a lot of young people who want a nice task light. They are really keen on beautiful design and willing to spend the extra money on it. ... We also have a fair amount of the people who do well and are able to afford our lamps without thinking much about it."

He points out that like shopping locally and buying clothes fashioned to last, "one of the greenest things is to buy good quality, so things don't end up in landfill. Beautiful design, good technology, it's rare when it breaks down, and good brands have the replacement items so you can get it to work again. We think there are many people who are starting to appreciate that."

Indeed, Flos carries lighting from its earliest collections. "Every time we do a new lamp, we think it may be the ultimate lamp," says Gandini, "but many old products are still very good sellers. In some cases, when they're no longer good sellers, we keep them in the catalog because (we) want to show a cross-section ... and to show what we were and what we are."

At DZine, along with noted designs such as the Glo-Ball line from mini to maxi ($120 to $700), the company introduced designer Ron Gilad's piece "Wallpiercing," which is tiny light-emitting diodes (LEDs) positioned inside lightweight hoops with the diameter of a large dinner plate. Calling the piece a light fixture is like calling a Maserati GranTurismo a ride. The design is part of Soft Architecture, a Flos line designed for minimal environmental impact during production and after sale.

"Wallpiercing" is already part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. It is a plus for the design driven, and the design curious, that Cardenio Petrucci, who owns DZine, likes people "to come in and see the showroom. It's almost like a museum. Design students, they take advantage of us, and I love it. ... We try to be more of a community than store."

Gilad embarked on the project by learning the technology behind LEDs and coming to understand the quality of light they emit. A precise minimalist, he attached each hoop to a tile at a 45-degree angle. Each tile is embedded in a wall. There are no visible wires.

It is, if nothing else, a lesson in why Gandini suggests that property owners should figure out lighting design early in the building or remodeling process. "Try to think of the lighting from the beginning, not at the end. Then it is too late for many solutions and possibilities."

He has another tip for lighting your home: Rather than following magazines or the trends or "a famous guy somewhere," look into yourself. "People have to push themselves but, at the same time, they must choose the lights that match their style of life. There is no one solution. ... Do it in a way that makes sense."

Artwork by Daniel Diaz-Tai Featured at DZINE

DZINE is pleased to work with San Francisco art gallery, Cain Schulte Contemporary Art, to showcase the talented artist, Dainel Diaz-Tai.  His large scale artworks will be on display at DZINE for several months. 

"My artwork is inspired by a continuous dialogue between subconscious writing and spontaneous movement manifested through non-representational images.


My multicultural background as a male Asian-Latino has had a significant influence in my creative development. Although I grew up moving around between Venezuela, Shanghai, Jakarta, Hong Kong, and the U.S, I identify with Latino customs and traditions. However my multicultural background can be easily perceived in the expressions of my artwork.

At the moment of creating an art piece, my thoughts and feelings are depicted through my own movement. The writing in my art does not translate into English, Spanish or Mandarin. Instead, there is an abstract interpretation of these three languages, allowing the art to express itself through a medium that has no specific language. My primary intention is for the viewer to relate to the movement of my writing. I accomplish this by creating my own asemic script, which allows the viewer to interpret the writing by reading its fluidity.

The moment I begin an art piece, I do not have specific images in my mind, rather my subconscious creates a momentum and a repetition of dialogue. While doing a mixture of writing and washing, I create layers upon a medium. My limited color palette allows me to remain connected with my concept. I prefer bold tones such as black and white, which creates a visual medium through my emotions providing a clear understanding of myself."


–Daniel Diaz Tai, 2011

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LIGHT & FOOD: PICCINO IN SAN FRANCISCO

by Jean Lin

from "Design Gossip".

We eat with all five of our senses.  This makes the design and lighting in a restaurant especially important, a concept we will explore in a new, regular column entitled Light & Food.  Piccino, a lovely restaurant in San Francisco, has recently moved to a new, larger location.  I spoke with Piccino owner and architect Loring Sagan about the convergence of food, design and lighting.

COULD YOU START WITH A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RESTAURANT AND HOW YOU CAME TO THIS NEW SPACE?
My wife, Margherita is from Lucca, Italy, and had opened Piccino 6 years ago in a very small (600 sq. ft.) location at the other end of the sidewalk.  The neighborhood was changing and lacked any great food, coffee, wine, etc. so, the small place was an instant success.  With lease going up for renewal, and a very challenging landlord, Margherita and her partner Sher Rogat were receptive to a change.  And I had time to take on a smaller project as there was not a lot of design and development work 2 years ago.

One of their regular customers was a wonderful Italian woman whose family was from Lucca, and she and her cousin owned a beautiful old yellow building at the other end of the sidewalk - and there the story begins.. (and by the way, Margherita's brother is her new landlord's family doctor in Lucca!)

WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS IN THE DESIGN OF THE RESTAURANT?
To keep the personal warm comfortable neighborhood feeling from the former location, be respectful of what the building is, while at the same time creating a light, open, modern feeling.

HOW DID YOU ENSURE THAT THE BRAND OF PICCINO STAY INTACT WITHIN A NEW, UPDATED SPACE?
Using warm natural materials, such as recycled cypress for the tables and countertops, and black oak for the floors and soffits.  There was no pretense in the old cafe, and the same goes for the new one.  It is what it is, but with thought.

HOW DO YOU CARRY THROUGH THIS MESSAGE FROM FOOD TO DESIGN, TO FURNITURE AND LIGHTING?
The food is elemental and consistent with our design aesthetic - Margherita and Sher, and our chef Rachel Silcocks make food which is clean, clear, and do as little as possible to fresh ingredients.  The vegetable, fish, and meats are all vibrant.  My partner at my architectural firm, Sagan Piechota, Daniel Piechota and I took the same approach with the materials and space - do as little as possible and let the space shine.

HOW DOES THIS DESIGN RELATE TO THE MENU?
The menu is not huge and it changes weekly depending on what the farmers bring us.  It is intentionally kept uncluttered with a balance of a few special items in each category.  We also kept it simple in design, but strived to do simple well.  Knowing where to stop and draw the line is an art: Whether in architecture, interior design, or food.

WHAT ROLE DOES LIGHTING PLAY IN ALL THIS?
Because a restaurant is active at night, lighting is an integral aspect of the experience, both in terms of being able to see, and feel the environment!  The space itself is a three dimensional palette to be appreciated.  Being somewhat asymmetric, the FLOS Glo-Balls do this beautifully.  My partner Daniel chose them.

WHAT INFORMED YOUR CHOICE TO USE FLOS' GLO-BALLS IN THE END?
They are simple and beautiful!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEAT IN THE RESTAURANT?
I enjoy the far corners looking back at the entry, as well as the counters and communal tables.  All of them have their contribution to the experience.

THE FOOD ON THE WEBSITE LOOKS DELICIOUS, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ITEM ON THE MENU?
Salads are extraordinary! Pastas too!

Nicole Hollis designs the window for FLOS San Francisco at DZINE

For the launch of FLOS San Francisco, DZINE asked Nicole Hollis to design the first window display featuring the newly released Piani lamp by Erwan and Ronan Bourellec, available exclusively at DZINE.















The talented designer and her team at Nicole Hollis Design created a terrific installation.  Watch her interview below where she describes the concept of her window display for "Piani" the latest light by the Bourellec brothers for FLOS.


Flos Lighting: Custom Display by Nicole Hollis from DZINE store on Vimeo.

Below the various "personalities":

The Architect

The Fashionista

The Jetsetter

The Gardener

The DeeJay

The Writer

RUPTURE by Thierry Dreyfus - FLOS Soft Architecture

We have a crack on our wall here at DZINE, a very big one, called Wall Rupture designed by Thierry Dreyfus.

Wall Rupture appears as a fault within a wall’s surface, releasing a beam of jagged, radiant light produced by concealed LED lights. Evocative of a volcanic eruption or earthquake, Dreyfus has drawn on the world of contemporary art to create a striking sculptural light installation. Wall Rupture has two finishes: gold and silver, and, like all the Soft Architecture range, it uses LED powered lighting units.

This striking light installation adds a bold and unexpected artistic flourish to any interior space.

Wall Rupture has just been awarded best Lighting Product at the FX International Interior Design Awards.  The Lighting Product Award celebrates interior luminaries, lamps and exterior lighting products for use in the workplace, retail, leisure, exhibition, public or commercial settings.

FLOS San Francisco launches at DZINE

DZINE is proud to announce the launch of the FLOS shop-in-shop.

On November 30th, 2011 Piero Gandini, owner of Flos, together with Ron Gilad, designer of the "Piercing" fixture, were in San Francisco for the unveiling of the first installation of Soft Architecture in the US.

 

FLOS is showcased at DZINE in a dedicated space and throughout the floor, as well as exhibited in the central window where a FLOS display will be curated by a local Bay Area designer on a quarterly rotation. The inagural window is designed by San Francisco based Nicole Hollis Design.

Classic FLOS lights such as Arco, Taraxacum, and Toio by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni, as well as new favorites Ktribe by Philippe Starck, Glo-Ball by Jasper Morrison, and Skygarden and Zeppelin suspension lights by Marcel Wanders, are just some of the products featured in the showroom.

Along with a wide range of residential lighting, DZINE will showcase several unique and innovative lights appropriate for contract and hospitality settings. FLOS' Soft Architecture line features lighting that seamlessly fuses with the surrounding architecture. Created using an innovative composite material which is both light weight and high strength, Soft Architecture delivers performance, durability and perfect integration with normal plasterboard false ceilings. It also complies with the latest international safety and eco-compatibility regulations. Wall Rupture by Thierry Dreyfus, Wall Piercing by Ron Gilad, and Spun by Sebastian Wrong are some of the stunning Soft Architecture products that are on display.