Best New Lighting at Euroluce 2015 // MILANTRACE 2015.

The biannual lighting fair – Euroluce, held in parallel to Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2015, displayed a number of progressive and innovative products this year. Following the gradual phasing out of the incandescent light bulb, lighting industry is marked by a rapid development of new technology. More flexible LED lamps have opened up what seems like an endless range of forms that free the lights from the strictures of bulb-based systems. This is an incredibly exciting time to be designing and buying lighting.

British company Anglepoise collaborated with Cereal magazine, presenting their small but beautifully curated stand in a series of styled sets, featuring furniture from the likes of Gubi and Vitra. Barovier & Toso, a Venetian company, showed a stand designed by architects Fabio Calvi & Paolo Brambilla around the idea of a dialogue between lights and luscious drapery – not normally my cup of tea but the result looked incredible. Karakter is a new Danish brand that launched at Euroluce with a tight but amazing collection of both lighting and furniture. Also launched at this year lighting fair is a London-based contemporary lighting brand Luum, carrying a small but an exclusive collection of decorative lighting.

Buster + Punch is an English independent design label that presented the world’s first designer LED bulb. Hooray! Davide Groppi, who can only be described as The Magician of Light, showcased a number of products that sit at the intersection of cutting edge technology, innovation, design excellence and ultimate simplicity.

FLOS, the undisputed leader in lighting, presented a 1000sqm stand conceived as a mega Art Gallery created by Ron Gilad. The company released a number of incredible new lights by Michael Anastassiades, Bouroullec Brothers, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni, Jasper Morrison, Philippe Starck & Patricia Urquiola. While I am full of love for their new range, there was one incredibly strange thing that took place on the stand – FLOS created a film to promote Philippe Starck’s customisable Ether lamps that featured a split screen. On one side a butler assembled Starck’s lamp by fitting different shades; on the other side the butler performed similar actions while dressing a naked woman in different garments to reinforce the concept behind the light. She stood there passively staring at the camera the entire time. Ummm… WOW! As an industry leader, FLOS ought to be ashamed of sending such an inappropriate message with this video and for blatantly objectifying women. Yuck!

Czech company LASVIT presented their ‘Temple of Light’ with a stunning new collection featuring Campana Brothers’s Candy lights inspired by colourful sugar candies. The mesmerising interactive glass kinetic sculpture by Petra Krausova titled ‘Supernova’ looked breathtaking as it moved up and down in a single smooth action.

LZF stand was all about animal shaped part-lamps part-sculptures. I was quite partial to their Elephant and the Fish lamps – I can imagine them within lobbies, kids spaces, hospital, or anywhere a little bit of cheer is needed.

There were too many other brands to single out here, so I’ll just let you peruse all the images in the galleries below at your leisure. You will notice that the galleries are split into The Stands & press shots of the new product. Enjoy!