Follow the Light: a technological ‘Direction’ at Milan Design Week 2023

Light: an entity, a power, and one of man’s greatest discoveries has evolved in the way we perceive and employ it. From using natural light sources to the invention of electric light and the light bulb in the 1800s, light has taken various forms. Fast-forward to the 21st century, light has conquered the creative minds of designers, artists and others alike, with lighting design taking the form of functional, decorative, royal, artistic, minimalist, maximalist, transcending its identity beyond being ‘a mere source of light.’ Therefore it is no surprise that the International Lighting Exhibition, Euroluce will be on display at Salone del Mobile 2023, for the 31st time. With the theme of The City of Lights, the exhibition design of Euroluce 2023 takes inspiration from the street plans of traditional Italian towns. While the biennial event returns to the grounds of Milan, Italy, after a four-year hiatus, we hope to witness ‘light’ through a different lens.

Interestingly, the last four years have witnessed a surge in topics, including, and not limited to, sustainability, climate crisis, craftsmanship and technology in the design world. The casual and un-conscientious use of this vocabulary has familiarised its way into discourse, while leaving room for so much more, relegating the verbiage to redundancy. However, ‘technology’ as a term has not met the same fate—the world has been rapidly advancing technologically over the last few years, so much so that every new innovation becomes dated in the blink of an eye.

As the countdown to the 'Mecca of Design'—Milan Design Week 2023 and Salone del Mobile Milano from April 18, 2023, begins, STIR probes into tech-oriented lights set to glow at Euroluce 2023.

Davide Groppi Design - Asintoto

“Light, for Davide Groppi, is a wonderful way to seduce and excite,” the famed Italian lighting company reveals. Works of art, readymade objects, magic, and ‘the desire to make things with his hands or simply the urge to play and have fun with light’ articulates each project designed by Groppi. With simplicity, weightlessness, emotion, creative invention, and amazement as fundamental ingredients of their lighting designs, David Groppi will introduce Asintoto, the first lamp of their Novelties 2023 collection at Euroluce this year. “I like to think of our lamps as small inventions capable, with great simplicity, of exciting and surprising. And, every time, the aim of my research is to demonstrate something new, never seen before. With these feelings I created and selected a new collection of lamps,” says Davide Groppi. The new suspension lamp is described as the ‘punctual reduction’ of one of their most famous lighting pieces, Infinito, a continuous light that embodies as a spatial concept, ‘the evocation of a black hole from which not even light comes out.’ Inversely, the indirect light of Asintoto manifests as a place from which light does manage to escape, to fill and make a space lucid with ‘wonder and capacity’ with its abstractive, pure, and graphic being. When turned off, the lamp’s disk appears enigmatic, “(as) a symbolic presence of the absence of light,” shares Groppi.

Koen Van Guijze - Grid Pendel and Wings

With more than 25 years in the lighting business, lighting architect Koen Van Guijze’s designs dwell in the influence of brutalism and detailing that brings out the materiality of the product. At the group exhibition curated by Verstrepen.studio & Timon Mattelaer at Belgian Design Pavilion, Guijze present two lamps— Grid Pendel and Wings wall lamp. The geometric designs of the lamp are shaped from a polished inox finish and adorn a mesh-like closure towards the light source.

Mandalaki - Halo Mag system

Designed for a modern life that is increasingly dynamic and fluid, a new magnetic battery-powered lighting system is Mandalaki’s presentation for Milan Design Week 2023. Named the Mag System, the new collection adds to the Halo Edition collection, the independent brand created by Mandalaki Studio. The light source is an anodized aluminium element, equipped with the latest LED technology, lightweight, compact, and resistant, combining style, quality, and functionality in a single product. With a magnetic system and intelligent accessories, the Mag System becomes a transversal object in space, which transforms according to needs, extending mobility both inside and outside. Defining the innovative thought behind the design, the studio mentions, “Today, homes are no longer just places to sleep and eat in, but are becoming multi-use spaces. People pursue the possibility to work, exercise, have fun, and relax in the same environment. Design must respond to these new needs, offering functional and innovative solutions that allow spaces to be easily and quickly transformed. Mag System perfectly fits into this context, with a magnetic battery-powered lighting system that is cable-free, flexible in space, and easy to install, offering a perfect solution for the needs of modern home spaces.”

BuzziSpace - BuzziBurner, BuzziSurf, and BuzziPebl

During Milan Design Week 2023, Belgian furniture, lighting, and acoustic company, BuzziSpace introduces a new collection of acoustic lighting. Debuting at Euroluce under the theme ‘More than Lighting,' the three new lamps—BuzziBurner, BuzziSurf, and BuzziPebl—encapsulate the solutions the brand offers. BuzziSpace’s new collection transcends conventional lighting and indulges in a play of colours and acoustic properties to help mitigate excessive noise. Featuring an LED light strip on the back to provide accent lighting, BuzziPebl Light is a decorative, acoustic wall sconce inspired by the smooth shape of a pebble. BuzziBurner, inspired by an engine burner, features a thick, upholstered, and voluminous foam body in endless colour profiles, impeccable stitch detailing, and a dimmable LED disc to provide functional lighting. BuzziSurf is an acoustic pendant light, the height of which can be adjusted to adapt to different zoning areas and low ceilings spaces.

Occhio - New Horizon

Occhio’s New Horizon at Villa Necchi Campiglio for Milan Design Week , this year, extends an immersive light installation to experience the future of light. “Light is pure emotion for me. With 'new horizons' we have created an experience dedicated to precisely these feelings. An installation where people can experience the deep emotions that light evokes,” states Axel Meise, founder and designer of Occhio. Opening up new realms where lighting meets innovation to advance the emotional experience of space, New Horizon will shape as a multi-sensory immersive experience that appeals to all senses.

Umut Yamac - Array, Blooms and Trace

London-based architect and designer Umut Yamac established his design studio in 2011 to focus on creating objects and installations that are responsive to both the user and the space through playful interactions and movements. This year at Milan Design Week, he is unveiling three new projects— Vibia at Euroluce, New Blooms at Rossana Orlandi and Trace at Alcova. Marking the first collaboration with Vibia, Yamac’s Array is an exploration of thread and its potential to create lightweight and dynamic light sculptures. For Milan Design Week 2023, Studio Umut Yamac is presenting three new versions of Bloom at Galleria Rossana Orlandi—floor light, pendant and mobile—to bring a playful nod to the indoors. Bloom is an evolving collection of origami lights, inspired by spring blossoms and is made from paper, both lightweight and recyclable. The shades of the lights are pleated to create three-dimensional volumes that reveal a layered gradient of colour when illuminated. TRACE is a site-specific installation made from over 2000m of tensioned cord that weaves through the historic stairwell at La Villetta. The illuminated cord cuts through the space, like a three-dimensional drawing, floating and meandering between the floors to create a new spatial experience.

iGuzzini - Le Perroquet

In a space designed by Stefano Boeri Interiors with lighting scenography by Artec Studio, iGuzzini presents Living Vibes for Milan Design Week 2023. As the name suggests, the collection is specially designed for new living atmospheres and includes the brand’s products including Libera by Artec Studio, Allure, BeTwo by Alfonso Femia/AF Design, Whisper and importantly Le Perroquet by Renzo Piano. The Le Perroquet floodlight was initially designed by Piano to illuminate large spaces of the Pompidou Center in Paris, after it re-opened to the public in 2000. With a slim body in die-cast aluminium and thermoplastic material, the product instantly gained attention and over the years, iGuzzini kept advancing the design with new innovations and technology. At design week, this year, Le Perroquet is presenting its latest advancement as a living icon in the iGuzzini catalogue. “The name Perroquet, that is Parrot, began as a joke. We designed it for Beaubourg, because even there we didn't know how to illuminate the new Forum. So we said: well, we need some parrots here suspended in the air, we need these objects that descend. And then, little by little, we designed this perch with this object suspended by two cables,” says Renzo Piano about the design inception of the light.

TURN Collection- Ambientec

“In today’s world where low-cost mass-produced goods abound and the old is easily discarded to make way for a new purchase, what does it mean to have an affinity for something? Doesn’t one's affinity towards an object stems from extended use? Being able to use something for a long time, to have it as a companion, a part of your memory.” These were the thought that led designer Nao Tamura’s Japanese lighting brand Ambientec to create the TURN collection. Though the brand was launched with a focus on professional diving lights, the precise craftsmanship and technology developed for them broadened the possibilities for more innovative designs. The cordless lamps in the TURN collection are made from parts machined out of metal stock. “Using Ambientec’s unique technology, it is a waterproof-cordless lamp embedded with a touch sensor, that one can adjust its light output in 4 increments to compliment a variety of occasions. Two types of LED segments were uniquely developed in order to generate a quality of light ranging from and replicating a candle-like glow, to a bright luminous light that can bring out the colours in a meal or the brightness befitting reading.” shares the brand about the technology behind the TURN lamps.

STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2023 showcases the best exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands, and special projects to look out for. Explore Euroluce 2023 and all the design districts—5Vie Art and Design, Brera Design District, Fuorisalone, Isola Design District, Tortona District, and Milano Design District—with us.