Parentesi 50 Floor lamp - / Mains power connection - 1971 reissue by Flos Orange

"The Parentesi lamp is one of the historical models by Flos, designed in 1971 by two legends of Italian design, Achille Castiglioni (1918 - 2002) & Pio Manzù (1939 - 1969). Incredibly revolutionary for the time, this fully mobile lamp won the "Compasso d'Oro" when it came out in 1979. It’s now part of the permanent collection of MoMA in New York and the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. The Parentesi has a truly amazing history. It was originally created by Italian designer, Pio Manzù. He was a complete designer who seemed as comfortable designing objects or cars as he was with architecture. He was in particular the designer of the Fiat 127, an ingenious small car which went on to be a great success in Europe, as well as in Brazil, South America. He was also the creator of the Chronotime, the storage bin for office tables (Kartell) and even the “physiological chair”, created in 1967. And of course, the Parentesi lamp for Flos: the design existed but the item may never have seen the light of day: in 1969, Pio Manzù died in a traffic accident at the age of thirty. Achille Castiglioni knew Pio Manzù's work, but they never met. Castiglioni discovered the designs of what would become the Parentesi: a luminous grooved tin cylinder, placed on a metal rod that goes from floor to ceiling. He was awestruck by this object in the making and decided to rework the project alongside Flos, taking care above all to keep the simplicity of line as well as its use, so dear to Pio Manzù. He replaced the rod with a metal wire, held on the ground by a 5 kg weight. The flexible bulb holder allowed 360° rotation. At that time, it was designed in black. For the 50th anniversary of Parentesi, Flos pays tribute to these two designers by creating a special edition that comes in two colours, inspired by Pio Manzù’s prototypes: turquoise and orange. This hybrid lamp with its industrial, minimalist accents is located halfway between floor lamp and pendant. The original idea behind Parentesi was to "create a light source that flows vertically from floor to ceiling and rotates 360° on its axis". It consists of a rotating spotlight mounted on a bent metal tube that slides from floor to ceiling, along a steel wire. The steel wire (not electrified) attaches to the ceiling with a painted metal ceiling rose. On the ground, a counterweight ensures perfect stability. The spotlight is provided with a long black electric cable (L 400 cm) with a plug on the end that connects to the mains. The Parentesi lamp lets you direct the light according to your needs. At any time, the height of the spotlight and its orientation can be adjusted with a simple wave of the hand. Its light can be direct, to illuminate a particular place, or indirect to create mood lighting. Parentesi can replace the use of a pendant by eliminating the electrical constraints on the ceiling since it simply plugs into a socket on the floor. The Parentesi lamp is equipped with a dimmer located on the electric cable as well as a switch on the spotlight. Parentesi will also fit in nicely near a sofa, bed, work area or lounge. The Parentesi lamp is a distillation of Achille Castiglioni's research. Generally sober and stripped back, Achille Castiglioni's creations innovate with their apparent simplicity, which often hides real work around the balance of forms and use of new materials. Devoid of any aesthetic intention, this approach aims to improve the functionality of existing pieces. The designer has fun rejecting the traditional form of classic utilitarian items (such as the floor lamp), to offer inventive reinterpretations, always rational but sculptural, full of humour and tinged with poetry. """.