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Experiments with Light

Bocci’s latest sculptural lighting products each have a distinct design technique as a defining element.

Experiments with Light

Bocci recently debuted four new lighting designs at Milan’s Euroluce in April. All distinct in their design, appearance and fabrication technique, the collection was developed through a series of experiments by the brand’s creative director Omer Arbel. They include:

84 series

A unique fabrication technique that leads to individual pieces of light art, Bocci’s 84 series pendant light is created by capturing a white glass bubble inside a fine copper mesh basket and then plunging the copper basket into hot clear glass. The white glass is gently pushed through the mesh by blowing air into the matrix to create a delicate pillowed form suspended inside the thick layer of clear glass. Occasionally, the copper mesh basket will fold and crinkle, creating a distinct form that cannot be replicated in another. An LED light source inside the fixture casts a warm coppery hue.

76 series

The 76 series is a surface-mounted light created by introducing vacuum into a strata composed of hot white glass and clear glass separated by copper mesh. The white layer pulls away through the embedded mesh, creating a canopy of white glass tendrils suspended within an interstitial space.

87 series

Another innovation in design technique, Bocci’s 87 series pendant light is created by trapping air in a super-heated glass matrix using soda water. The hot glass matrix is stretched and folded back onto itself between pegs a number of times. As the glass cools, the entrapped air in the folds is stretched along the grain of the loop to create microfilaments, rendering a pearlescent optical quality to the light.

44 series

Molten aluminium is poured into a large vessel filled with rock-like modules of resin-impregnated sand, with the molten metal filling up the spaces between the modules. Once cooled, the aluminium castings are separated from the modules, taking on unique forms. An interesting design element in the 44 series is the absence of cables to suspend the light source; low voltage electricity is transmitted through the aluminium castings, allowing a light source to be introduced without using cables.

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