Volker Haug and Flack Studio’s lighting range at 5vie has its origins in a mishap

Melbourne-based lighting atelier Volker Haug Studio and Australian multidisciplinary architectural firm Flack Studio have collaborated to unveil Me & You, a new series of 13 decorative lighting fixtures, debuting within 5VIE design district during Milan Design Week that begins today. This lighting fixture series was conceptualised due to a minor mishap. During a Flack installation, a glass fitting from a vintage wall sconce was ripped beyond repair. With the back plate already in place, Flack Studio requested Volker Haug to craft a new, site-specific fitting urgently. This episode was a reminder of the powerful possibilities of synergy, and it quickly led to a collaborative collection of distinctive lighting fixtures. The design firms began working on the lighting pieces with a fixed dimension of a 20 x 20 cm back plate, which were fixed as the initial confines for investigations with material and form. The studios started by experimenting with varying forms and materials within these physical and artistic constraints. After a period of time, they expanded the parameters to enable unrestrained, natural design processes to take over. “The Me & You collection speaks to the power of collaboration, and the creative possibilities that can emerge when working both within and beyond design limitations,” Volker Haug, founder of Volker Haug Studio tells STIR.

With an emphasis on minimalist and subdued designs, filled with a sense of playfulness and character, Volker Haug Studio has crafted a legacy of producing elegant, intricately detailed lighting pieces. Flack Studio, also based in Melbourne, aims to craft unique buildings and interiors. The studios share aesthetic sensibilities, a long history of friendship, and neighbourly proximity, which enabled them to come together seamlessly to ideate, prototype, and finalise the lighting fixtures in the collection.

A shared endeavour

“Our studios’ long-time friendship and shared aesthetic sensibilities, which stem from a belief in the innate beauty of materials, contributed to a cohesive co-design process. The entire experience – from rapid-fire ideation to prototyping, and editing – was incredibly rewarding. We couldn’t be more excited to show it in Milan. The name Me & You is not only an ode to the collaboration but also pays homage to the inherent interplay of light and space. As designers, both of our studios agree that the relationship between lighting and its context is critical. It holds power in setting the atmosphere, and in shaping the experience of a space. This collection is our response to that,” adds David Flack of Flack Studio.

A collaboration of complementary perspectives

The Me & You collection showcases an intriguing symbiosis of the interior and lighting design disciplines in which the pieces are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional at the same time.

“The design of the collection fuses Flack’s expertise in interior design and ours in lighting. Our working process was cooperative: Flack Studio would envision each light’s presence in situ within a space, while our design team would see the light from all the same angles and push the technical and material features further. Me & You is a result of complementary perspectives, and each piece’s function is in balance with its visual effect,” remarks Haug.

A play of dualities

Furthermore, the Me & You series exhibits Flack and Volker Haug’s shared trust in the truth of materials, and their innate ability to speak for their beauty and radiance. With this spirit in mind, the lighting fixtures are conceptualised in a consciously limited range of materials, namely brass, ceramic, glass, and fibreglass. Haug continues, “Through lines of instinctual familiarity, from repetition to material to colour, yield a satisfying series of diverse styles, proportions, materials, and detailing. The material palette we worked with expresses dualities of soft and hard, which echo throughout the collection. You’ll notice a repetition of forms and motifs in the fixtures.”

Fundamental to the series is a set of interchangeable wall sconces – differentiated by their varying luminosities – that are intended to be installed as individual lights, sets of pairs, or as a series. Refraining from the original idea of building a range with strict constraints scaled across different, singular light forms, organically led the design studios to an unrestrained approach. “Working within the original dimensional constraint pushed us to experiment with our material palette and to continue refining toward perfecting some of the unconventional forms. It was within these parameters that we were able to fully embrace the playful and unrestrained design process that emerged during this collaboration,” Flack says.

Re-envisioned Lighting Fixtures

In addition to mouth-blown glass features and elements such as rotund metal forms, the collection also led to an opportunity to apply material refinements to some of Flack Studio’s previous, more angular designs. Iterations of their original lighting for Ace Hotel Sydney – featuring grid-like elements and linear forms – came to life alongside another of the new collection’s highlight lights – Troye. This re-designed lighting fixture found its inspiration in a bespoke lamp designed by Flack Studio for actor and musician Troye Sivan’s Melbourne abode. Its one-of-its-kind metal exterior wraps a hidden light source with punchy perforations to display its glow.

“With the debut of Me & You at Milan Design Week 2024, we’re excited to share the vibrancy and ingenuity of the Australian design community and to focus on the joys of the collaboration. This year also marks the twentieth anniversary of Volker Haug Studio, and we’re pleased to be able to celebrate this with a collection that speaks to our values of collectivity and experimentation,” concludes Haug.

The ‘Me & You’ collection will be exhibited from April 16 to 2, 2024 at Via San Maurilio, 18, Milan, Italy.