Imaginative lighting is a longtime hallmark of modern Italian design. Following in the footsteps of innovative companies such as Artemide and Arteluce, the company FLOS brought a fresh aesthetic philosophy to the Italian lighting field in the 1960s, one that would produce several of the iconic floor lamp, table lamp and pendant light designs of the era.
FLOS — Latin for “flower” — was founded in the northern town of Merano in 1962 by Cesare Cassina (of the famed Cassina furniture-making family) and Dino Gavina, a highly cultured businessman who believed that artistic ideas espoused in postwar Italy could inform commercial design. The two enlisted brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni as their first designers.
Even before FLOS was formally incorporated, the Castiglionis gave the firm one of its enduring successes with the Taraxacum pendant and associated designs made by spraying an elastic polymer on a metal armature. (George Nelson had pioneered the technique in the United States in the early 1950s.) For other designs, the brothers found inspiration in everyday objects. Suggestive of streetlights, their Arco floor lamp, with its chrome boom and ball-shaped shade sweeping out from a marble block base, has become a staple of modernist decors. Designing for FLOS since 1966, Tobia Scarpa has also been inspired by the commonplace. His folded-metal Foglio sconces resemble a shirt cuff; his carved marble Biagio table lamp looks like a jai alai basket.
In 1973, FLOS purchased Arteluce, the company founded in 1939 by Gino Sarfatti, and it continues to produce his designs. In recent decades, FLOS has contracted work from several noted designers, including Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison. As instantly recognizable as they are, many FLOS designs remain accessible. While FLOS lighting is the essence of modernity, its sleek, subtle designs can be used to strike a sculptural note in even traditional spaces.
Browse a broad range of FLOS lighting fixtures at 1stDibs.
FLOS OK Pendant Light in White by Konstantin Grcic
By Flos, Konstantin Grcic
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A pendant light that feels as at home in an industrial space as it would in museum exhibit: The OK Light plays with expectations to provide functional light that is surprising and ea...
Aluminum
FLOS OK Pendant Light in Black by Konstantin Grcic
By Flos, Konstantin Grcic
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A pendant light that feels as at home in an industrial space as it would in museum exhibit: The OK Light plays with expectations to provide functional light that is surprising and ea...
Aluminum
Flos Noctambule Pendant Light with 6 High Cylinders by Konstantin Grcic
By Konstantin Grcic, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Another pioneering lighting design in the array of lamps and lighting fixtures Flos is known for, Noctambule LED dimmable pendant light with tall cylinders is one of designer Konstantin Grcic’s finest creations. Adaptable to any interior space, this dynamic fixture can be configured as a pendant lamp or standing light using the additional components available with the product. Available in a variety of unique and distinct design options, Noctambule pendant...
Glass
Flos Noctambule Pendant Light with 3 High Cylinders by Konstantin Grcic
By Konstantin Grcic, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Another pioneering lighting design in the array of lamps and lighting fixtures Flos is known for, Noctambule LED dimmable pendant light with tall cylinders is one of designer Konstantin Grcic’s finest creations. Adaptable to any interior space, this dynamic fixture can be configured as a pendant lamp or standing light using the additional components available with the product. Available in a variety of unique and distinct design options, Noctambule pendant...
Glass
Flos Noctambule Pendant Light with 5 High Cylinders by Konstantin Grcic
By Konstantin Grcic, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Another pioneering lighting design in the array of lamps and lighting fixtures FLOS is known for, Noctambule LED dimmable pendant light with tall cylinders is one of designer Konstantin Grcic’s finest creations. Adaptable to any interior space, this dynamic fixture can be configured as a pendant lamp or standing light using the additional components available with the product. Available in a variety of unique and distinct design options, Noctambule pendant...
Glass
Flos Noctambule Pendant Light with 4 High Cylinders by Konstantin Grcic
By Flos, Konstantin Grcic
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Another pioneering lighting design in the array of lamps and lighting fixtures FLOS is known for, Noctambule LED dimmable pendant light with tall cylinders is one of designer Konstantin Grcic’s finest creations. Adaptable to any interior space, this dynamic fixture can be configured as a pendant lamp or standing light using the additional components available with the product. Available in a variety of unique and distinct design options, Noctambule pendant...
Glass
Mid century 1970's chrome pendant light by Motoko Ishii for STAFF Leuchten
By Motoko Ishii
Located in Liberty, NY
Beautiful mid century 1970's chrome pendant light by Motoko Ishii for STAFF Leucten Germany. Great minimal design with the signature oversized glass globe resembling a bulb - measuri...
Chrome
Castiglioni & Menghi 'Canna Nuda' Metal Pendant Lamp in Chrome for Nemo Lighting
By Roberto Menghi, Nemo Lighting 1
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Castiglioni & Menghi 'Canna Nuda' metal pendant lamp in chrome for Nemo Lighting. This beautifully designed minimalistic pendant lamp is masterfully created with integrated LED whic...
Metal, Chrome
Minimalist Chrome Pendant Lamp by Sölken Leuchten, Germany, 1970s
By Sölken Leuchten
Located in London, GB
Minimalist counterbalance chrome pendant lamp with spotlight is super flexible, with an arm adjustable to 180 degrees. The halogen light source is attached to a long arm holding a sp...
Chrome
Nemo Ilium Pendant Lighting in Chrome Glass & PC by Foster + Partners
By Foster + Partners
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pendant lamps with a diffused and dimmable light output. Fluorescent, halogen and LED sources, according to versions. Structure with inner diffuser in opal polymeric (pendant LED ver...
Chrome
Castiglioni & Menghi 'Canna Nuda' Metal Pendant Lamp in White for Nemo Lighting
By Nemo Lighting 1, Roberto Menghi
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Castiglioni & Menghi 'Canna Nuda' metal pendant lamp in white for Nemo Lighting. This beautifully designed minimalistic pendant lamp is masterfully created with integrated LED which...
Metal, Chrome
Franco Albini and Franca Helg 'AM4Z' Pendant Lamp for Nemo in Chrome
By Nemo Lighting 1, Franca Helg, Antonio Piva and Franco Albini
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Franco Albini and Franca Helg 'AM4Z' pendant lamp for Nemo in chrome. Designed by M. Albini, F. Helg, F. Albini, and A. Piva, in the 1969, this authorized re-edition of the iconic '...
Metal, Chrome
