Luxury lighting seen at Milan Design Week

Each year, Milan is celebrated as the epicentre of global design during the city’s Design Week, including the prestigious Salone del Mobile furniture fair. Here, the Editor of Habitus magazine, Aleesha Callahan, shares her picks of the best shiny, innovative, and exciting new designs, direct from the fairgrounds in Milan.

Lighting truly has the ability to affect our mood and influence our general well-being. It can make or break a space, add drama, recede into the background as just a whisper, and everything in between. As the old adage goes, good design often goes unnoticed… Well, whether a loud statement or minimal and bespoke, these new pieces seen at Salone del Mobile tell the whole story of good design and they certainly are worthy of being noticed.

Davide Groppi

Italian lighting company Davide Groppi has released 15 new pieces for Euroluce 2023. There are some seriously incredible lights in the mix — viewing them on the stand, what really stood out was the way fine lines and lightness continue to be pushed further and explored, particularly with Post Prandium and Utopia.

In the mix is the more playful inclusion, Just Like a Light (with tiny crocodiles)!

Foscarini

Always unafraid of bringing some colour and unconventionality, Foscarini presented a slew of new releases — some of the standouts include Fleur by Rodolfo Dordoni, which is a vase and a lamp (ingenious); Pli by Felecia Arvid with oversized pleats and soft glow; and Hoba by Ludovica+Roberto Palomba with organic glass forms.

Plus, the stand was delightful with retro Venetians, plywood, and pops of orange and teal.

Santa & Cole

A sensual and relaxing stand, Spanish brand Santa & Cole presented its products with the concept of Strofa chiara, strofa scura, A Play by Santa & Cole. Rattan and light tones were warmed up with ambient lighting.

New pieces include updates to Lámina by Antoni Arola with a wall, table, and floor lamp. An update to a 1973 ‘executive desk lamp’ by André Ricard also deserves a mention – done in collaboration with the designer and modernised with new tech.

Lasvit

Architect David Rockwell and Czech glassmakers Lasvit have collaborated on the Constellation lighting collection, inspired by the starry skies of New York City and Grand Central Terminal’s ceiling mural. The collection features six designs, each representing a different constellation, including Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Tri Star, Polaris, and Gemini.

Another incredible moment worth mentioning from the stand is the Cloud installation, created by Lasvit art director. The piece is mesmerising, bringing together strands of fibre optics and glass in a dramatic four-metre installation.

Vibia

Even with a large and heaving stand, the minimalist craftmanship of Vibia was more than apparent.

Some of the standouts were ‘Out’ and a large outdoor lamp with a sweeping curve and geometric cone form. The Knit range, which comes in different shapes and sizes has an understated elegance to it, while the textured shade adds dimension.

Wästberg

When your stand is designed by David Chipperfield, you know it’s going to be minimalist perfection, and Wästberg certainly delivers without entering into the cold or stark domain. Plus, the lights bring as much refinement, with an added touch of glow.

Two of the new standouts include a small (but heavy) table lamp by John Pawson, coming in two finishes — marble and metal — the marble is just divine, especially with the light passing through.

The Alto pendant also breaks the mould, being a small pendant light with only upwards directional light — with a powerful amount of light capacity, the light can wash up the walls in spaces up to five metres.

Flos

Always one of the favourites to see at Salone, Flos did not disappoint with its new releases on the stand at Euroluce this year.

While there are almost too many highlight, some of the memorable inclusions were: Black Flag by Konstantin Grcic an extendable wall light that can illuminate up to 3.5 meters from its frame. Named in honour of the punk band Black Flag, this light serves as a centrepiece despite the fact it’s wall-mounted.

Drawing on Ronan Bouroullec own passion for ceramics, this new collection of lights –Céramique – showcases the quality of craftsmanship of the material. The collection includes three table lamps with handcrafted ceramic bodies and diffusers, finished with lead-free crystalline lacquer to highlight the surface.