Born in Milan in 1935, Italian architect and designer Mario Bellini has been awarded the prestigious Compasso d’Oro Prize eight times. Twenty-five of his works form part of the permanent collection at the MoMA in New York, which devoted a retrospective to him in 1987. It was in 1969 that Mario Bellini designed Chiara: a sculptural, innovative floor lamp delivered flat, made of a single sheet of flexible steel. More than fifty years after its introduction, Flos is reissuing the icon in a modernised version. In the 1960s, Italian designers, from Joe Colombo to Superstudio, experimented in all directions: they reinvented the furniture industry by taking advantage of the technologies and materials that appeared in those exciting times. In 1969, Mario Bellini invented Chiara, a lamp delivered in a flatpack, made of a single sheet of stainless steel that the user had to roll up and bend to give it its final cylindrical shape. This desire to involve the end user in creating their objects was booming. Mario Bellini: “One day in my studio, it occurred to me that we could use light as it manifests itself in our daily lives – rarely directly, almost always in some way reflected or filtered by the clouds, the walls of the city or by indoor spaces. I decided to design a device that would take light from an artificial source and introduce it to our surroundings with intelligence and grace. I took scissors, a large piece of cardboard, started cutting out something that could be made into a cylinder with a large two-part cover on top that acts as a reflector for the light source housed in the based. Flos decided to bring the Chiara lamp out of its archives and deliver a version modernised by Mario Bellini himself. The black rubber edging, which borders the metal sheet, has been completely reworked to make it more solid. A dimmer has been added to choose the power of the lighting. As for the inside of the cylinder, its surface is treated with a matt white plastic film to better concentrate the light. Mario Bellini also gave Chiara a little sister: a miniature version that can be placed on a cabinet, coffee table or the shelves of a bookcase.

In detail:

Variation : Polished steel / Black border

Brand : Flos

Designer : Mario Bellini

Type : Floor lamp

Colour : Polished steel (mirror finish) with black rubber trim – Inside: matt white

Material : Laser-cut polished stainless-steel sheet, with black rubber border on the edges, closed with stainless steel hooks formed directly from the sheet – Interior of the structure covered with a matt white plastic film

Dimensions : H 145 cm – Upper part: Ø 72 cm – Base: Ø 32 cm – Cable: L 190 cm

Weight : 23.1 lb

Characteristics : A design icon – Reissue of the 1969 model – Lamp delivered in flat packaging: made of a single sheet of steel to roll up and fold to give it its final cylindrical shape (the structure closes with hooks) – Dimmer on the cable – Light source housed in the base – Reflector cover – Bulb (not included): 1 x E27 LED 15 W – Supplied with EU plug: EU to UK plug adapter included

Country of Manufacture : Italy