91
Caboche
Gregg
Binic
Plass
Buds
Nile
Filo
Madre
Gioia
Chiaroscura
Foscarini
Chap. 2 — The defi nition of an identity
Top, Buds (1993) and Fruits (1990).
Below the current version of Buds table
lamp from 2016, next to the study of the
versions of Fruits.
Buds /2016 — design Rodolfo Dordoni
About shedding light
Buds is linked closely to the history of
Foscarini and the years of the brand’s close
partnership with Rodolfo Dordoni, which
lasted from the end of 1988 to 1993. During
this time, he designed a collection of table,
fl oor and suspension lamps with
brightly-coloured blown glass diffusers
named after natural elements: Fruits,
Blossom and, in fact, Buds. This last family
of suspension lamps comes in three shapes
and was revived in 2007 in a polished glass
version with a similar colour range to
Lumiere (New Buds). Subsequently, in
2016, the shape was restyled by widening
the hole on the underside to boost the light
diffusion. A new range of warmer, more
sophisticated colours was launched, which
blend in better with the surrounding shades:
brown, grey, green and white with a
straw-yellow fi nish. The glossy effect of the
material has thus deliberately been toned
down by engaging the Vetrofond artistic
glass works – with whom Foscarini has
partnered since Lumiere was launched –
in charge of blowing the three models in
fi ve-layer blown glass with a tricky dosage
process to achieve just the right tone of
the mixtures, following a closely guarded
recipe. In the same year, a table lamp
version was also introduced, using the
same glass shapes as the suspension,
elegantly combining two very different
materials, namely glass and plastic.
The diffusers are raised like elegant
sculptures on a cylindrical transparent
PMMA base – from which the lead comes
out – that enhances the shape and light of
the glass, suspending it in an effect of
optical refraction.
The Buds table lamp in some way recalls
the Fruits collection – where glass, again in
three different shapes, rested on a gold or
silver die-cast base in the same way – but at
the same time it deviates sharply from it in
91
New Buds, evolution of the Buds
suspension lamp, available in three
shapes and colours in 2007.
