Constantly seeking original and distinguishing solutions – not just in terms of products, but also in narrative approaches – Foscarini has decided to rethink the industry’s typical conventions of social media communication and evolves its storytelling in an unprecedented and distinctive way. The Instagram @foscarinilamps feed is transformed into a virtual place that offers room for well-known and emerging exponents in the world of visual arts, with the objective of developing amazement, beauty and fun. A kaleidoscopic project where international artists and content creators with different backgrounds – from digital art to photography, illustration to motion art – have been invited to “play” with Foscarini collection and get inspired by a catalogue of lamps composed by different styles, materials, and designers.

“Foscarini is a company that thrives on ideas, curiosity, the desire to experiment and experience. We were looking for a different and more distinctive storytelling for our social media channels – a new solution which, dealing with the limits and characteristics of the medium, would allow us to make room for creativity, to gather stimuli and to trigger connections, swapping know-how and combining experiences. This new digital project will grant space for original contents that, through visual impressions where our light is the protagonist, will enable us to discover the power of ideas” – Carlo Urbinati, Foscarini president and founder.

Instagram thus becomes a stage where energy, creative freedom and research are the protagonists. A storytelling through images, animations, and videos, taking form in a contemporary art space, tracking the narrative thread of the Foscarini brand, with its essence, inspirations and collections.

The first contribution comes from Luca Font – a versatile Italian artist – with an original series of illustrations inspired by modernism, with lively geometric effects. He is followed by the well-known Israeli illustrator Noma Bar – the master of negative space. And then: Federico Babina, Oscar Pettersson, Alessandra Bruni and others that will follow in the year. Unique voices, styles and interpretations, narrating thoughts, sensations and emotions triggered by Foscarini lamps, to emphasize their forms, the ideas behind their concepts, or the effects they produce in a space. An intense calendar of unusual ideas and visions on the theme of light; a creative pathway that expresses reflections on the role played by Foscarini lamps in the transformation and definition of a personal interpretation of the home environment.

First episode: Luca Font

Writer, illustrator, tattoo artist: Luca Font, born in Bergamo in 1977, lives in Milan and New York, the metropolis that has been the cradle of Graffiti Art. And in fact Luca’s first steps in art stemmed from his passion for graffiti. From trains to walls, tattoos to paper, all the way to digital art: the visual universe of Luca Font is composed of various media, sharing in a distinctive style that reflects a particular taste for abstraction, graphic design and lettering. His production is marked by constant pursuit of visual synthesis, as well as a graphic approach that blends minimalism and expressive flair.

In the series of illustrations created for Foscarini, Font visually narrates the role of light and the lamps of Foscarini in the definition of the personality of a space, both at night – when the lamps are on – and in the daytime, when they are off. The six illustrations form a sort of circadian cycle in which the home develops its own character through pareidolic illusion.

“In this new project I have developed for Foscarini  from the outset the focus has been on the importance of light in relation to spaces: not only during the night, when the light is obviously artificial, produced by lamps, but also in the daytime, when the lamps enter a different dimension as design objects. Light (or more precisely lights) and Foscarini lamps become two factors that in different ways, depending on the time, contribute to define the personality of the home, which in turn is a reflection of the personality of those who decorate and inhabit the spaces”. – Luca Font

Second episode: Noma Bar

Our journey into creativity continues: it is now the turn of of Avinoam Bar, aka Noma Bar, the “master of Negative Space”, internationally known for its original style, sitting somewhere at the intersection of illustration, art and graphic design. After graduating at the Bezales Academy of Arts and Design in 2000 he conquered the world: his work has appeared in many magazines, covers and publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, Internazionale, Wallpaper*, Esquire and The Guardian… only to name a few.

Ironic and playful, capable of looking where others don’t, Noma Bar took inspiration from Foscarini’s most iconic lamps and made them protagonist of his creative universe to visually narrate the intimate feeling of being at home. Your home, and no one else’s. The result is a series of six minimalist images in which – through a skilful use of “negative space” – multiple levels of interpretation are concealed and stories emerge when looking at the details more closely.
Artistic expressions of a stunning simplicity, a common trait between the artist’s and Foscarini’s approach: liberate the essential to thrill and catch the eye. Thus the iconic floor lamp Twiggy becomes a house, and the face of a person capturing the simple and intimate relationship between people and decorative lights, objects that are not needed only to fill spaces with light but above all to fill souls with warmth. While the table lamp Lumiere, as if by magic, becomes the nose of a dog that careful hands cuddle to make him fall asleep – can you think of something that feels more homely than this?

“I know how to appreciate good and timeless silhouettes and luckily I had Foscarini’s great iconic silhouettes to work with. The lamps inspired me to find daily situations inside and outside Home with some uses of light elements together with Foscarini lights that beautifully integrated.”. – Noma Bar

 

Featured artist of May: Oscar Pettersson

It’s time to add another layer of creativity to “What’s in a lamp?” project, a new perspective, a different style with the objective of developing more amazement, beauty and fun. The third artist to participate in the project is Oscar Pettersson.  A Stockholm-based 3D motion designer whose bewildering animations portray surrealistic environments that defy physical laws and leave viewers with a yearning to understand the unknown. His unique and mesmerizing looping animations are both intricate and playful, capable of transforming complexity into captivating and inspiring designs of the cleanest order.

Pettersson describes his approach to animation as one of problem solving: “If I can find a problem, I can create a solution. Solutions are satisfying to look at.”

In his series of animations for Foscarini, he took inspiration from the design stories behind some of the company’s most loved lamps and transformed those stories into hypnotic moving images. In his neverending loops the luminous core of Eugeni Quitllet’s Satellight is a fragment of light that flies, seeking freedom. Le Soleil by Garcia Jimenez spins and magically holds a metal ball in balance on the edge of its irregular bands. In another artwork, the organic, irregular shape of Gregg by L+R Palomba is created when flying spheres collide while Giulio Iachetti’s Magneto dances with its signature magnetic sphere, like a snake charmer mesmerizing his cobra. Marc Sadler’s Twiggy dances a graceful choreography, that highlights the flexibility of its stem and you are soothed by the rhythmic swaying of a pendulum made of Aplomb suspension lamps by Lucidi e Pevere.

“Creativity for me is interesting solutions for interesting problems. The Design of Foscarini lamps are amazing, so I only had to find an interesting way to portray their functionality through concept and animation. Great designs are always inspiring for an animator.” Oscar Pettersson

Federico Babina’s Design Zoo for “What’s in a lamp?”

As part of our ongoing “What’s in a lamp?” project, we’ve invited Federico Babina, an architect, illustrator, and painter, to interpret our collections in his unique style.

Federico Babina is known for the surreal worlds he creates with his illustrations and animations, inspired mainly by architecture and design. His series are unique, distinctive, and recognizable thanks to a style that is expressed in details, the wise balance of colors and proportions, the grunge patterns and – above all – in the ability of the artist to create and stimulate unexpected and surprising connections that strike the eyes, mind, and heart of the viewer.

In his new series called “Lux Like” Federico Babina has had fun searching for and recognizing animals in the shapes of some of Foscarini’s lamps. Like in a pareidolia, he reduced them to elementary shapes – circles, rectangles, triangles, and lines – and transformed them into animals with character and expressiveness that live, speak, and breathe in a parallel universe: a sort of design zoo.

“My idea is to transform the perception of the design object,” explained the artist. “Our mind is capable of collecting, recording, and storing tons of images. One thing that always interests me is the association we can make between these images. I tried not to send rational information to the brain but to leave it free to seek instinctive associations.”

 

This exercise develops creativity and imagination by encouraging elastic thinking: you don’t see the lamp for what it is, but you spot the elephant that takes shape from it.
A series of illustrations where Federico Babina plays seriously around shapes and colors. Where everything that appears may not be what it seems. Lamps that make up a Foscarini design zoo where animals are made of design.

Maja Wrońska brings buildings to life

Foscarini’s “What’s in a Lamp?” project has entered a new chapter featuring Maja Wrońska (@majatakmaj),  a talented watercolor artist from Poland. Her breathtaking paintings of European architecture showcase her balance of dramatic line-work and pastel watercolors. Maja is not only an artist but an architect as well, making her a unique and creative inspiration.

Her stunning series of artworks showcase the transformative power of Foscarini lamps in architectural spaces with surprisingly animated watercolor paintings that beautifully capture the emotions and life of buildings, with the lamps becoming a significant feature and focal point. What makes these artworks truly captivating is how they come alive as the city transitions from day to night: the interiors of the buildings, which are seen from the outside, suddenly take center stage as the Foscarini lamps illuminate them in the night.

“Light, in general, is a major inspiration for me. I find it fascinating to observe how sunlight interacts with building facades and how buildings appear when interior lights are on. In this series for Foscarini’s “What’s in a lamp?” project, I wanted to explore the interior spaces and highlight the impact of the lamps in transforming the atmosphere. I aim to paint the places I love and capture the beauty I see in them.”

– Maja Wrońska

Ball-pen dreamscapes by Kevin Lucbert

With just a simple ballpoint pen, new participating artist Kevin Lucbert creates and develops landscapes that exist somewhere between the familiar and unknown. His signature style blurs the divisions between writing, drawing and painting.

His creative process is rooted in the power of dreaming, and bringing his dreams to life. Stepping beyond the boundaries of consciousness, he fabricates enigmatic worlds that seamlessly blend natural elements such as the sun, water, earth, and sky. In his series for Foscarini’s “What’s in a Lamp?” project, Kevin Lucbert ventured into Foscarini’s catalogue, allowing his imagination to run wild. The result: surreal scenarios fused with his signature style. Dive into a deep-sea abyss and encounter the captivating Chouchin medusas or gaze into the sky through the Nile table lamp, transformed into a colossal telescope to observe the moon, becoming a gateway to the universe and the sky.

“The series is deeply rooted in surrealism, dreams, and fairy tales. I saw more than just lamps: I saw stories of light that could inspire and ignite ideas within a home. Design is the breath that breathes life into raw materials. It is the act of filling objects with love, with the hope that they reflect that love back to everyone. We all desire to encounter artifacts that have souls and stories to tell.”

– Kevin Lucbert

Alessandra Bruni’s realm of light and emotions

In the new series for the project “What’s in a lamp?”, emerging illustrator Alessandra Bruni (@allissand) brings us into a realm of light and emotions. Her artwork carries a poetic and cozy feel, where Foscarini lamps create personal and intimate atmospheres while at the same time they transform the space, reveal stories, trigger insights.

Stories told through images in which each lamp harmoniously echoes the personality of the protagonist, revealing it and triggering feelings and emotions in which one can easily identify. As if they were open windows on our everyday life, these images seem to be talking precisely about us, about who we have been or who we will become, while creating atmospheres that are almost tangible as they convey deep intimacy.

“Light, both in our daily lives and in the realm of art, has the ability to enhance and bring greater significance to various elements. In this series, I wanted to place light itself as the main protagonist. The concept of “illuminating light” deeply fascinated me.”
– Alessandra Bruni

 

Follow the project on the official Instagram channel @foscarinilamps