May 16 is celebrated as UNESCO International Day of Light every year. To mark the annual occurrence, lighting designer Sergio Boccia shares 10 lighting designs that have defined illumination for the past seven decades.
Sergio Boccia
Akari Light Sculptures
Designer: Isamu Noguchi for Ozeki & Co
Year: 1951
Fragile, poetic, ephemeral as falling leaves, those lanterns are ageing with us.
Akari Light sculptures by Isamu Noguchi
Sconce
Designer: Serge Mouille
Year: 1953
Technically this lamp has a phytomorphic geometry. Or a part of female anatomy.
Sconce by Serge Mouille
Taccia
Designer: Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni for Flos
Year: 1962
Designed to be an innovative desk lamp that projects indirect lighting. Almost 60 years later, it seems people have forgotten how it works. It’s a piece that brings to mind the phrase Perle ai porci which in English means pearls for swine.
Taccia by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni for Flos
VP Globe Verpan
Desginer: Verner Panton
Year: 1969
In the year of the moon landing, a series of lamps exploring the subtle nuances of coloured light.
Globe Verpan by Verner Panton
Tahiti Memphis
Designer: Ettore Sottsass
Year: 1981
Even David Bowie was a fan and had a collection of these Memphis lamps.
Tahiti Memphis by Ettore Sottsass
Lucellino
Designer: Ingo Maurer
Year: 1992
Design elevating our spirit.
Lucellino by Ingo Maurer
Lampan
Designer: Carl Öjerstam for IKEA
Year: 2007
It costs 5€. Need I say more?
Lampan by Carl Öjerstam
VorteXX
Designer: Zaha Hadid for Zumtobel
Year: 2009
A museum, a dildo, a bench. Produced in limited edition and available for 260,000€.
VorteXX by Zaha Hadid
Infinito
Designer: Davide Groppi
Year: 2016
If light were a musical note, this would be silence.
Infinito by Davide Groppi
Higgs Promemoria
Designer: Piero Castiglioni
Year: 2017
A lamp projected to the future. An invention celebrating the progress in science and technology.
When everyone was shying away from displaying the led dotted strip, Piero Castiglioni made it bold and naked.
And lighting porn was born.
Higgs Promemoria by Piero Castiglioni
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