Brand Week: The Story of FLOS

FLOS

This week, we are focusing on the world-renowned Italian lighting brand FLOS . This legendary company has delivered countless successful collections working with a wide branch of designers. FLOS is one of the biggest contributors to the development of lighting installations. The company caters to professionals as well as consumers and enjoys wide success in both fields. In the product catalogue, they can present designers like the Castiglioni Brothers, Philippe Starck, Gino Sarfatti, Patricia Urquiola and Michael Anastassiades.

THE STORY

The company was founded in 1962 by Dino and Cesare Cassina in Merano, Italy. The brand started out as a laboratory for designers and architects, seeking to innovate the lighting industry. In order to retain this philosophy, the company moved to Brescia, where the new headquarters were used as a think tank for new designs and ideas. In 1963, Sergio Gandini became managing director of the firm and would prove to be a crucial personality in FLOS’ history.
It took no more than a few years for FLOS to position themselves as the most innovative and revolutionary Italian lighting brand and after numerous products became part of the Italian exhibition at Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1972, FLOS became internationally renowned.

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GANDINI & PHILIPPE STARCK

From 1972 FLOS opened more workshops and boutiques, both in Italy and the rest of the world. They also extended their product catalogue with the acquisition of Gino Sarfatti’s well-known brand Arteluce.
In the mid 80’s Sergio Gandini met a young Philippe Starck and was quickly impressed by his design Ará. The son of Sergio, Piero Gandini, who had begun working with his father, instantly saw the potential in young Starck and decided to produce Ará on an industrial level. Starck’s next lamp, Miss Sissi, was mass-produced for a large hotel in New York, which made the lamp iconic to consumers. The lamp was a big success and went on to sell 100.000 models in one year. Starck himself described the lamp as: "What everybody subconsciously thinks a lamp is" .

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In 2005, Piero Gandini is leading the company on a mission to create a new identity and to do this decides to acquire Frederic Martinez’s company Antares. This division became FLOS Architectural Lighting that catered to professionals, making lamps and lighting installations for large spaces and offices. In a time where LED was becoming the new standard, FLOS managed to maintain their position as an innovative and challenging lighting brand, utilising the possibilities of this new technology. 2005 was also the year of the provocative, iconic and extremely popular Guns Collection by Philippe Starck, featuring lamps formed as automatic weapons in gold and silver.

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Since then, FLOS has continuously impressed us by bringing interesting and creative collections in collaboration with talented designers. View some of the most iconic and innovative lamps from FLOS below:

Flos Snoopy

A fun and classic table lamp created by brothers Achille and Pier Castiglioni as early as 1967. Snoopy was one of the first popular table lamps from FLOS and has been in the collection since. The lamp comes with a green or black screen and a white marble stand. In 2017, FLOS created a 50-year anniversary limited edition with a matte, texture screen.

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FLOS Gun Collection

Provocative and iconic design by Philippe Starck. This lamp became an instant classic when Starck created it with FLOS in 2005. The collection contains lamps formed as automatic weapons in gold and silver and after its release it became a very popular choice for the provocative art and avant-garde lovers. The picture shows The Table Gun , formed as the AK-74u Sub-machine gun. The collection features a smaller Bedside Gun lamp and a tall Lounge Gun floor lamp.

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FLOS Tatou-Series

Tatou is a collection created by Italian designer Patricia Urquiola in 2012. The collection features a table lamp, a floor lamp and pendants in different sizes. The shade is the highlight of the lamp with an exciting design in polycarbonate, the material brought to attention by FLOS. The lamp is available in a simple, white color , but also in grey and black shades, highlighting the specialty of the lamp. The black screen has a close to red glow and the grey shade has a golden and warm glow.

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FLOS K-Tribe

Another wonderful and popular collection from Philippe Starck. The K-tribe series features simple lamps with a simple shade, that comes in beautiful colors. The series features shades in silver , smokey black , bronze , transparent and a classic shade in a creme-colored fabric . The lamp has a strong presence in the room with polished aluminium and an eye-catching shade.

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