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Dolmen
Tuareg
Tobia
Uptown
Big Bang
Allegro
Bahia
Foscarini
Chap. 5 — Designing space with light
Bottom right: fi rst prototype of the Big Bang
lamp in the Rosi Serli store in Trieste, Italy. Top,
painting by Enrico Franzolini.
Big Bang /2005 — design Franzolini with Garcia Jimenez
About shedding light
The Big Bang lamp makes a remarkable
plastic impression, its apparently chaotic
shape having been created by the carefully
devised intersection, as if in an interlocking
game, of methacrylate elements which
together generate multiple contrasts of light
and shadow. Based on a concept by the
architect designer Enrico Franzolini,
in partnership with Vicente Garcia Jimenez,
it refl ects the interests of the former in the
abstract expressionism of Emilio Vedova
and Franz Kline. One of its possible
genealogies is still Light Box, a work from
the 90s which Giulio Cappellini wanted to
present at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in
1994 – which Franzolini also exhibited in a
solo exhibition at the Plurima Gallery in
Udine – where the backlit cuts of the doors,
variously arranged according to ‘rational
chaos’, can be considered to be the
two-dimensional premise to Big Bang.
The fi rst two experimental prototypes
– which were tested in a shop in Trieste –
were followed by a third prototype that was
presented to Foscarini, confi dent that the
solution could also be suitable for mass
production. Irregular intersections of planes
in space thus create a volume with the
utmost fl exibility and high visual impact,
casting direct light downwards and diffused
light in its surroundings. The two-tone
variant further accentuates the encounter
between different surfaces and the contrast
between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ of
each element. The special arrangement of
the methacrylate plates guarantees optimal
light refl ection while at the same time
avoiding glare. The L and XL versions
(2016) boost the already accentuated
scenic effect of this lamp, making it ideal
for large settings in which it creates
charming luminous architectures, also
in compositions.
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Chaos and geometry: an explosion of
intersecting planes, creating an architecture
of surfaces, lights and shadows, with an
outstanding scenic effect.