Flos - Design Holding | Design Holding

“In Flos, you can’t find a uniform design model, but rather a strong desire to make design that can express broader meanings of the ‘sense of our time,’ meanings that are often capable of adding cultural values even to expressions of taste.” (Achille Castiglioni)

www.flos.com

Identity

Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Since its founding in 1962, Flos (“flower” in Latin) has been an industry leader, a standout company creating surprising forms of illumination that inspire and delight. Starting with Artur Eisenkeil’s cocoon material, a special technique that has remained unchanged until today, and iconic designs like the Arco and Taccia lamps designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Flos immediately gained—and has maintained—a reputation for manufacturing masterfully poetic designs and forward-thinking inventions. With this exceptionally rich legacy propelling the brand forward, Flos continues to push boundaries and make timeless, ethereal icons, linking design and engineering with art and culture to profound effect.

Arrangements by Michael Anastassiades, ph. © Jackie Chan

Producing discrete, sophisticated solutions with top design talents including Michael Anastassiades, Barber & Osgerby, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Antonio Citterio, Konstantin Grcic, Piero Lissoni, Jasper Morrison, Nendo, Philippe Starck, Patricia Urquiola, Vincent Van Duysen, and Marcel Wanders, among many others, Flos continues to both respect and advance its rich history in pursuit of the unexpected. Through its four intersecting units—Architectural, Decorative, Outdoor, and Bespoke— Flos’ products remain as beautiful and seductive as they are varied, blossoming in new directions.

Icon

Arco by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

The Arco floorlamp, designed in 1962 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, is one of the most iconic, imitated and quoted objects of Italian design, and a best seller to date. Its truly innovative design is a visionary synthesis of genius, simplicity and perfection. Inspired by a street lamp, its main design component is the need to project the light from above without being bound by a chandelier on the ceiling or by something bulky near the table.

Original drawing for the Arco lamp

In the original Arco lamp, a telescopic stainless steel arch allows light to be diffused through the adjustable reflector, while the heavy marble base -about 50 kg- anchors the entire structure to the ground. In this ingenious lamp nothing is left to the imagination. Every element has a specific function and is in strict equilibrium with the others. The small hole in the base -coinciding with its center of gravity- is not a simple decorative detail but a device for movement. In fact, it ensures the possibility of transporting the lamp through the admission of a broom stick or similar handle.

String Light by Michael Anastassiades

Biagio by Tobia Scarpa

IC Lights by Michael Anastassiades

Aim by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Noctambule by Konstantin Grcic

Toio by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Zeppelin by Marcel Wanders

Infrastructure by Vincent Van Duysen

Taccia by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Essence

Superloon by Jasper Morrison

Flos crafts edgy, new languages of light—and has been doing so for nearly 60 years. Throughout its history, Flos has produced revolutionary, category-defining products that enhance any building or setting, and the brand continues to lead in this way. Form, function, and performance drives every Flos creation. Merging technology and emotion, Flos integrates light into architecture and nature, bringing a sophisticated, poetic sensibility to all that it does.

Skygarden by Marcel Wanders

Flos believes in less but better, in quality over quantity and in cutting-edge experimentation. Taking the long view, Flos creates sustainable and timeless lighting fixtures, each of which is refined to its truest essence. Flos is known for its ability to make bold choices following its instincts as opposed to trends. Organized into four divisions—Flos Architectural, Flos Decorative, Flos Outdoor, and Flos Bespoke—Flos incorporates a holistic, human-centered philosophy across the company. For Flos, light is a means to illuminate the unexplored.

Flos Bespoke

Sergio Rossi Flagship stores, Marco Costanzi Architects

Since the 1990s, Flos has been developing the contract business area, in response to a growing demand for specific solutions addressed to high profile custom lighting projects. Flos’s contract projects around the world provide pitch-perfect examples of the kinds of sublime collaborations the company’s four divisions make possible today. Flos Bespoke is the division of Flos Group specializing in the development and production of custom lighting solutions.

Hotel August, Vincent Van Duysen Architects

With plants in Italy and the US, Flos Bespoke’s oustanding capabilities range from the personalization of standard collections with special finishes and light sources, to the custom-tailoring of high performance products, up to the bespoke production of unique solutions for large-scale projects, where each device is designed and developed according to the most challenging architectural needs. Passion, design and technology characterize each contract project. Across the fields of retail, residential, hospitality, public spaces, and workspaces, Flos steps in to make the best of a building and its surroundings, highlighting its details and helping its truest essence shine.