57

During this year_s Milan Saloni, Bocci will be exhibiting for the first time at Euroluce. In conjunction with the world_s largest furniture exhibition, Salone del Mobile, the biennial Euroluce trade fair serves as a major platform for luminaire manufactures with high design ambitions. At the centerpiece of their 280 square meter stand, Bocci will unveil a new flexible chandelier called 57 in a dramatic installation.

Designed by Omer Arbel, Bocci_s Creative Diretor, 57 is an exploration of a technique of making analogous to that used for producing open cell foam. The process involves trapping voids of air of different sizes and configurations within a glass matrix, and then injecting air into the composition, yielding a shape loosely referencing a rain cloud. These pockets of air remain invisible when the piece is off, but come alive to reveal an interior universe when the piece is turned on. As with all of Arbel_s recent body of work, it is the technique of making that yields 57_s form, which is unique in every iteration of the procedure. A flexible suspension system allows easy composition: Pendants may be clustered such that they touch each other, referencing a cloudy sky (an especially poignant reference in the City of Vancouver, where the idea was born); they may also be composed as a field, such that each piece can be perceived individually, perhaps referencing a child_s drawing of a could (equally poignant but in a more universal manner). Most chandeliers are fundamentally vertical in composition, which is why they work best in rooms with high ceilings; in contrast, 57 is conceived as a layer or strata of light, or in other words, a horizontal chandelier.