A documentary journey and a reportage in African territories inspired AFRICA, a ceramic lamp by ILIDE, perhaps one of the most popular pieces of the ‘i materici’ collection.
The designer Daniele Gualeni reinterprets the faces and silhouettes portrayed in African reportage, through an original and unprecedented formal synthesis for the lighting industry.
“I was immediately fascinated by the pride and beauty that emerged from those portraits. I paused to reflect on the emotional nature of the human figure, in the eyes staring at the lens, the soul of those people emerged”.
According to the designer Daniele Gualeni, anything that covers a person can in fact be used to coat and wrap light, lampshades that look like hair, diffusers recalling the rotating volumes of skilled Dervishes, bell stems similar to collars of modern clothes that are too tight… Fashion and design are often intertwined in synergies aimed at supporting clothing and decoration in a game of exchanges, whose purpose is always to support a “model” or a cultural aspect.
“We like to believe that we are what we wear and what we surround ourselves with,” says Daniele Gualeni.
“Those veils, that without obscuring the face let one see a strong and often pained soul, were a big inspiration for this project. I began a work of synthesis, not too indirect, whose purpose was to transform the face of the people into light and their clothes into the shape of the product. I think in fact that light is to matter as the soul is to the body “.
After several attempts at synthesis came the final proposal, presented for the first time by ILIDE at EUROLUCE 2015 in Milan. AFRICA the ceramic lamp by ILIDE was immediately well received by the public, the conical shape of the classic hanging lamps, is cleverly reinterpreted in this product with games of joints and openings that give the lamp its novel and highly evocative character.
The opening of the ‘face’ on the top of the lamp allows the heat of the bulb to dissipate, the light source can then exceed the power used in ceramics lamps with a closed cone. The open ‘veil’ also allows the light to come out ‘from the face’ and avoids darkness on top of the lamp, which is therefore also illuminated and illuminating its summit, as well as in the direction of the cone’s exit.
“AFRICA was initially meant to be made from twin glass, but then I decided to choose ceramics and a matte finish for the outer ‘veil’ in contrast with the shiny surface of the interior ‘veil’. In the end this project was inspired by Africa’s land and it had to represent its nature and warmth.”
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