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Enterprises
PROJECTS, DESIGN, INSTALLATIONS: HOW LIGHTING BECOMES AN ART
Below, The Secret Garden event created by Paola Navone for Barovier&Toso at the Fuori Salone fringe events, Milan 2012. Opposite page, Exagon ceiling lamp (2010) with lotus leaves embellished with small flakes, in gold or pale colours, that float in the air lit by LEDs that highlight their contours. Barovier&Toso, 2010
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and glass made its official debut in the world of design. The company continued to develop, generation after generation, with the active involvement of Angelo (1927-2008), Ercole’s son, later joined by his son Jacopo who, midway through the ‘80s, reorganised and renewed both organisation and production systems. The company concentrated on the development of lighting systems, which became increasingly predominant. And in opening up to design, it found new expressive outlets, resulting in important partnerships with a number of designers, such as Umberto Riva, Matteo Thun, Daniela Puppa, Franco Raggi, Rodolfo Dordoni and many others. Lighting systems thus become the sphere of excellence of Barovier&Toso’s most recent production, including large-scale installations. Two product lines can be identified. On the one hand, a new in-
terpretation of the classic chandelier with arms, with original combinations of materials and colours, and on the other, technology is used to reinvent traditional elements and designs. Barovier&Toso develops lighting solutions for each of the possible light sources (ceiling, wallmounted or table lamps) that are inspired by both approaches. Coloured glass in geometric or abstract forms (the Exagon series, 2010, design: Barovier&Toso) or the combination of metal with traditional glass elements (Eden, 2011, design: Daniela Puppa and Francesca Martelli) are, by way of example, the defining features of suspension and ceiling lamps. In these, the use of glossy technical materials and new light sources such as LEDs have resulted in the total reinterpretation of lighting compositions. The prolific output of recent years includes remarkable stylised floral decorations and marine motifs in coloured, opaque and transparent glass conjugated with brass or chrome-plated surfaces. Accordingly, tradition and innovation find new expressive and functional solutions. An outstanding manifestation of this experimentation is represented by The Secret Garden event, held during the 2012 Salone del Mobile, where Barovier&Toso displayed its work with an installation by Paola Navone: traditional Murano blown glass lamps in bright, modern colours were positioned inside isolated structures in Brera’s Botanical Gardens. Conversely, amusing and ironic lamps in coloured glass (Marino and Marina) by Navone, who revisited an original design by Ercole Barovier dated 1927, were placed at intervals to light up the garden. The most recent output of the Barovier&Toso furnace is the Colimaçon lamp (2012), designed by Marc Sadler. The classic ceiling lamp can now “transform” itself, and once again it “revolutionises the concept of its genre”: its mobile structure is made of metal and Murano glass is used for the diffusers, producing an extremely elegant effect that reveals characteristic transparent or opaque veins. This creation represents a new challenge, where tradition is the starting point and the output is marked by unexpected, avant-garde results.
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