Parentesi Suspended Lamp by Flos with Dimmer, Italy 1970s

About the Item

Parentesi pendant lamp designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pio Manzù in the 1970s. This pendant lamp is produced by Flos, a well-known Italian design producer. This model can be adjusted in height and stays at the desired height because of the tension in the wire. This mechanism makes the lamp extra special. This Flos pendant lamp has a working dimmer and can also be turned on its axis to direct the lamp in the desired direction. The Luminaire runs from ceiling to floor and only needs to be attached to the ceiling. A weight on the floor holds the adjustable metal wire taut. The lamp is made of black lacquered metal and has a plastic fitting. The light source is included. The Parentesi pendant lamp fits perfectly into a modern interior. The length of the cable is 235 cm.

Creator:

Flos (Manufacturer),Achille Castiglioni & Pio Manzu (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 21.66 in (55 cm)Width: 4.34 in (11 cm)Depth: 4.34 in (11 cm)

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Lacquer,Metal

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

1970-1979

Date of Manufacture:

1970s

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.

Seller Location:

Hellouw, NL

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU5583228201332

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Flos

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.