Bocci to debut new pendant light ‘100’ during Milan Design Week 2021
Showcased in an intimate apartment setting, 100 encompasses Bocci’s mastery in glass blowing and development of innovative manufacturing techniques
Milan, 05 August 2021: During Milan Design Week 2021 the Canadian design and research studio Bocci will be presenting a new pendant light - 100. The piece brings multiple glass artists within the Bocci glass studio together in a performative act. Molten glass bubbles are prepared individually, then smashed together to produce unpredictable interlocking glass forms.
The piece will be shown in an intimate setting within Carwan gallery founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte’s private Milanese apartment alongside a curated selection of objects designed by Omer Arbel, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Bocci. The edit carefully reflects Omer’s creative output and unique design sensibility which can also be seen in his first monograph - launched earlier this year with Phaidon.
“For 100 we developed a method to make fascinating shapes but realized the most interesting complexity remains hidden inside the volume;” explains Arbel. “We’ve been developing new methods for making forms for many years and routinely cutting prototypes to learn about what’s happening inside... but it occurred to us that the act of cutting itself can be part of the work, not just a learning exercise. For 100, we use a diamond saw to cut swaths off the bubble amalgamations after they cool, exposing the most fascinating parts of the geometry.”
“100 is an exploration in collision and exposure,” adds Jay Macdonell, glass master at Bocci. “The combination of hot working and cold working requires intuition and skill in equal measure. It’s as if the artists have to have X ray vision… seeing the insides of the volume in their imagination in real time, prospecting almost, to find where those interesting moments might occur,” Macdonell says. “There are also pragmatic considerations. To expose the inner geometry, the artists cut openings from several angles, while also addressing the hanging balance of the piece… keeping in mind the central bubble must remain intact, as it becomes the diffuser for a light source”.
(L) 113, Vessel - (R) 44, sculptural light
Omer and Nicolas met at the opening of Bocci’s first Berlin headquarters in 2015; “ I remained impressed by all the installations displayed in this unique architectural context. I sat with Omer and we instantly connected, almost as if no words were needed to understand each other… Omer has this idiosyncratic way of expressing himself through the objects he creates, the message is bold but still delicate and sophisticated, and I feel that I can connect personally with his universe.” Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte
Omer proceeded to show with Carwan Gallery from St Moritz to Monaco, and vessels resulting from his personal exploration into copper and glass were selected as the inaugural exhibition at Carwan Athens in Autumn 2020. Entitled 113, these experimental vessels will also be shown in Milan for the first time.
Alongside 100 Bocci has also loaned 44 to sit as part of Bellavance-Lecompte’s private collection long term. 44 is a group of pendants resulting from a free pour of molten aluminium into a large canister filled with rock-like modules of resin-impregnated sand, a waste product of conventional sand casting. Low voltage electricity is transmitted through the castings, allowing a light source to be suspended between them without using cables. “I think amongst all of the extensive research and objects developed by Omer for Bocci, 44 is the one that struck me the most.” Bellavance-Lecompte explains. “The technical aspect of its materiality, the way it flows into space and refracts the light makes it a really unique object in the global landscape of sculptural lights.”
Every single Bocci product is handmade. Each one is variously blown, poured, carved, polished, packed and dispatched directly from their Vancouver base. As such, no two products are identical; they are individual, irregular and unique expressions of evolving research.
-Ends-
NOTE TO EDITORS
Address: Via Santa Marta, 19A
Dates: 6th - 7th September
Opening Hours: 11 - 7pm Monday / 11 - 4pm Tuesday
By appointment
For media enquiries please contact Camron PR:
Francesca Formenti | francesca.formenti@camronpr.com
ABOUT OMER ARBEL
Based in Vancouver, Omer Arbel cultivates a fluid position between the fields of architecture, sculpture, invention and design. Focal themes of his work include investigation of intrinsic mechanical, physical, and chemical qualities of materials and exploration of light as a medium.
ABOUT BOCCI
Bocci is a design and manufacturing company based in Vancouver and Berlin. Founded in 2005 under the creative directorship of Omer Arbel, Bocci is committed to fostering a lateral and open-ended relationship between creative direction and craft.
The company launched with one lighting design, ‘14’, which became an instant classic and remains a design staple and bestseller. Bocci’s growing portfolio of sculptural lighting is developed, engineered and fabricated in-house, through an infrastructure calibrated to provide full control over technique, quality and scale.
ABOUT NICOLAS
Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte is a Canadian contemporary design specialist, architect and curator based in Italy. Nicolas’ commitment to collectible design drove him to co-found Carwan Gallery in Beirut (and now in Athens), the first contemporary design gallery of the Near East, where he serves as Art Director. He also co-founded the traveling showcase NOMAD held so far in Monaco, St. Moritz, Cannes and Venice, which has already established a strong and international network of collectors, design patrons, strategic partners and gallerists. Nicolas has curated more than fifty design exhibitions for private galleries, museums and institutions. He has been appointed Creative Director for SILA at the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels and Art Director at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, the historic bronze foundry in Milan.