Bocci Announces New Design Launches and Refreshed Brand Identity

During Milan Design Week 2023, Canadian lighting and design studio Bocci will debut its permanent base in the heart of Milan, signifying an important milestone in the developing relationship between the brand and the city. 

​​To mark this occasion, a collection of new product designs and bespoke lighting installations will be presented in the intimate residential setting of the space. Bocci will also present a rotating collection of objects at the apartment. The first iteration will showcase a range of designs and objects that demonstrate the breadth of relationships Bocci has built with its community of staff, clients, designers, brands, and supporters over the years. 

The apartment is situated in an early twentieth-century building in Zona Vincenzo Monti, and joins Bocci’s exhibition space and studio in Berlin (set to open in September 2023), as a European hub for the brand’s transnational community of people, ideas, and objects.

In tandem, Bocci will unveil an exciting new brand identity, spanning refreshed art direction, website, typeface, and logotype. The project was led by Studio Frith, a London-based studio renowned for its visionary creativity and research-based approach, with further collaborators noted below.

118

Bocci will debut its newest lighting design, 118. The glass spheres of 118 offer an ethereal appearance, each one exhibiting traces of the steel cages used in their formation. Air blown into its core pushes the molten glass into the recesses of the cage; gravity and heat coax these unpredictable tendrils to elongate, following the initial shape the steel has set for it. Finally, the cage is sheared off, cleaned, and used once again to create another 118. 

“For many years, I have been researching and experimenting with fabrication processes, looking for novel methods that create a unique form. Whilst each 118 is created in the same way - by blowing molten glass through a steel cage - the end result is always one-of-a-kind. Just like the weather outside our workshop, to the glassblower’s mood, to the chemical composition of the glass, each 118 takes form in response to numerous uncontrollable factors.” Omer Arbel, co-founder, Bocci.

118 (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)

118 (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)118 (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)

44t

In the creation of 44, molten aluminium is free poured into a large canister filled with rock-like modules of resin-impregnated sand, a waste product of conventional sand casting. The result, a completely unique organic form that delicately holds a spherical light. First showcased at the Barbican, London as a site-specific installation, Bocci will now launch the design as a table light, making its debut in Bocci Milan. 

44t will feature subtle feet on the underside of the pendant, transforming the sculptural design into a functional table light. Accompanied by an integral dimming system housed within a sleek brass cylinder, the table light will allow for various settings and moods. In addition, a semi-rigid black fabric cord can be sculpted to add form. 

44t - Aluminium (Image credit: Kate Williams)44t - Aluminium (Image credit: Kate Williams)

89

89 extends from Bocci’s practice of reconsidering and reimagining everyday objects. Available in nine variations - four hooks and five hangers - each piece is created by pouring molten metal into standardised moulds, then cast in sand. 89 then emerges from the sand as a unique object, with unrepeatable contours and blemishes. Initially conceived in 2022, the new design will finally launch in Bocci Milan, this April 2023. 

89 Hook and 89 Hanger (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)1.8 (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)

1.8 presents two overlapping shelving layers that join along chamfered edges in an offset geometry. The multiple open compartments can pair with closed storage, increasing the visual complexity of the composition. The design offers an option to wall-mount or act as a partition between spaces. 

1.0 was the first design of Bocci’s co-founder, Omer Arbel: a one-off commission to double a book collector’s storage in a small apartment. 1.8 is the latest design to join the series, launching in Bocci Milan and making its home in the Apartment, it will showcase a rotating display of designs and objects. 

28t - Milanese Green

As an ode to Bocci’s new home, the 28t table light will be launched in a new colourway, Milanese Green. 

28 results from an innovative fabrication process that manipulates both the temperature and the direction of air flow into blown glass. The result is a slightly distorted sphere with an interior landscape of satellite shapes, including an opaque milk glass diffuser that houses either a low-voltage xenon or LED lamp. The 28t includes an integral dimming system housed within a sleek brass cylinder; a black fabric semi-rigid cord that may be sculpted to add form; and a small notch on the underside of the brass stand, allowing it to be hung on a wall if desired.

28t - Milanese Green, $820 (Image credit: Kezia Nathe)16 (Image credit: Fahim Kassam)

16

16 is formed by pouring three separate pools of molten glass of varying opacity and colour over a horizontal pane. Each layer responds to the indeterminate shape of the previous pour to create a layered whole. A steel armature system connects the glass pieces to a series of branches and stems. Each armature segment carries an internal light source, offering a warm and ambient glow. A collection of 16 will light up the garden in Bocci Milan. 

74

Bocci’s 74 is an LED spotlighting system offering a contemporary alternative to conventional track lighting. Each spotlight is housed inside an articulated mirrored sphere, affixed with a magnet to allow maximum control over the emitted light. The sculptural lighting installation will hang in the Bocci Milan kitchen. 

74 (Image credit: Kezia Nathe)

Bocci Milan ​Collaborators 

The interiors of Bocci Milan will boast a range of collaborations and items. Calico Wallpaper will dress the walls in three designs: ​ Brasscloth in a custom dark green colourway; Inverted Spaces in a custom greyscale colourway; and Wanderlust. As with all Calico Wallpaper collections, these new works were born from original artwork. The Calico Wallpaper team employs advanced technologies to translate its designs into custom-fit murals that are tailored to a client’s project and space.

German interior brand e15 will present its Hiroki table in a custom base colour, alongside its angular Backenzahn stool, both designed by Philipp Mainzer; meanwhile its Pardis bed, upholstered in fabric by Dedar, will find a home in the bedroom, paired with bespoke pillows in fabrics by Dedar and Kvadrat. 

Henrybuilt designed a custom kitchen space in Bocci Milan. The concept was conceived as a distillation, almost an abstraction of a conventional kitchen, positioned just off the garden entry to the apartment, with a furniture-like island positioned in the middle of the small, vertical space. Henrybuilt's Opencase System - which allows for a flexible arrangement of storage and tools on the wall - plays off the original detailing of the room to visually and functionally connect two additional storage and work areas that have been recessed into existing closet spaces, allowing the room to retain its original form.

Dinnerware will be offered by Vancouver-based potter Janaki Larsen. A collection of 16 hand-thrown and hand-glazed plates in her characteristic pared-back aesthetic. Bocci Milan will also welcome the Bembo Credenza by Orior Furniture, wrapped in Orior leather with hand stitched detailing. 

Additional collaborations and items will be shared by Christian Woo, ClassiCon, Coco-Mat, De La Espada, Knoll International, New Tendency, and Tino Seubert, amongst others.

Bocci Rebrand [Under embargo, 03 April]

Bocci will also unveil a dynamic new brand identity next month. The rebrand project was led by Studio Frith, a London-based studio renowned for its visionary creativity and research-based approach. Guided by an impression of Bocci as a company driven by experimentation and ‘a free flowing exchange of ideas and materials’, Frith proposed to turn the inside outside, unveiling the process behind the Bocci designs. 

A striking new logo was shaped to reference the abstract, spherical forms produced by Bocci, drawing upon the allure of abstraction which has long featured as a fundamental element of the studio’s work. Energetic photography by Fahim Kassam, website build by Civilisation, and a typeface designed by Studio Frith and produced by Dalton Maag further build upon these abstract forms and ideas, observed and developed within the Bocci glass workshop.

NOTE TO EDITORS
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​​For media enquiries please contact Camron:
​bocci@camronglobal.com ​
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​​Bocci Milan
​​Via Lorenzo Mascheroni, 2 ​
​​20123, Milan
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​Interior Design: Bocci
​Architectural Consultant and Project Manager: Paolo Cossu Architects
​Collaborators: Ames Living; Calico Wallpaper; Christian Woo; ClassiCon; CocoMat; De La Espada; e15; Janaki Larsen; Henrybuilt; Knoll International; New Tendency; Orior Furniture; Tino Seubert

​​ABOUT BOCCI
​​Bocci is a design studio and manufacturer based in Vancouver, Canada.
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​​Experimentation, collaboration, and hands-on making fuel every object Bocci produces. The team - glassblowers, metalworkers, chemists, sculptors, designers, architects, and engineers - exchange skills and knowledge to extend the possibilities of form.
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​​Bocci’s ongoing pursuit is to capture materials mid-transformation - in the act of cooling, exploding, and changing form. The metamorphosis is the piece, with the resulting artefacts emerging secondary to these chemical reactions. Form emerges from what Bocci refers to as “constrained chance”: they may set the frameworks, but the materials act out of their own will. Each collector of a Bocci object is invited to join this process.
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​​Flexibility and adaptation define Bocci’s designs, it can take a day or a decade for a particular design experiment to become clear. This extended process is captured in Bocci’s naming system: every product is assigned a number; this is the order in which each experiment began, but did not necessarily finish. The first commercially available light fixture, 14, was followed by 21, then 22, 28, 57, and 73. The first design, 1, will only be introduced in 2024, after 113. The products Bocci chooses to manufacture are punctuation marks in Bocci’s ongoing study of cause and effect.

​HENRYBUILT
​“We are excited to share Henrybuilt's approach to the luxury kitchen with the Milanese design community. Bocci's Italian base aligns with our goal to to showcase our innovative system–one that combines aesthetics, function and craft quality into a flexible system of interrelated products–to a greater European audience," says Scott Hudson, CEO of Henrybuilt.