12/11/2020 - Flos pays homage to Achille Castiglioni with the re-edition of the Diabolo lamp and the new color palette for the iconic Lampadina. For the two lamps, the new colours result from a careful study of the great designer’s use of colour in his designs but also in his personal life, thanks to the precious contribution of the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni.
Diabolo is the last Achille Castiglioni design for Flos in 1998, whose production had been discontinued after about a decade. Thanks to the extraordinary experience and skill of the Flos technical department, the design's characteristic rise-and-fall mechanism has been re-engineered, refined, and placed back on the market in a new range of fascinating finishes.
The Diabolo height-adjustable pendant lamp takes its name from the characteristic horizontal hourglass shape of the traditional Chinese toy. The lamp conceals its spool mechanism within a long, slender cone, attached to the ceiling, from whose rounded point comes the simple power cord that also supports the diffuser - another, larger cone. The light effects can be personalised by varying the distance between the two cones, creating changing perceptive relationships between the solids.
Diabolo is presented today in a range of three sophisticated colour options: white, beaver brown and cherry red.
Lampadina, the small timeless masterpiece created in 1972 by Achille Castiglioni’s genius, gains a new colour palette. In addition to the classic black and orange, the lamp-holder is now available in white, green, turquoise and lilac, while the base is available in a matt black finish, creating a sophisticated contrast.
Lampadina was produced in a limited edition for the opening of the Flos store in Turin in 1972. It was so successful that it was soon decided to put it into industrial production. Before long, this small, original table lamp became one of Castiglioni’s most iconic and recognisable objects. Lampadina, meaning bulb, owes its name to its ingenious simplicity: a large bulb, partially satin finished to reduce reflections, housed in a holder with built-in switch, and supported by an aluminium base in the style of a spool, which can be used to wind up any excess power cord.
In 2015 its incandescent bulb was replaced by an LED light source whose special technology reproduces not only the incandescent filament, but also its warm, comforting light temperature.
