Trentasei anni dopo la storica presentazione che nel 1988 inaugurò l’era delle collaborazioni con i designer internazionali, Flos è tornata a Palazzo Visconti con un’installazione che racconta il valore delle affinità elettive nel progetto e diventa il centro di un percorso che include anche lo shop e lo showroom di Corso Monforte. Il Fuorisalone 2024 di Flos era un percorso a tre tappe, una sorta di “triangolo del design”: al centro, il settecentesco Palazzo Visconti in Via Cino del Duca, con l’installazione Flos at Palazzo Visconti che racconta la anniversary edition della serie IC di Michael Anastassiades, le nuove collezioni di Barber Osgerby e Formafantasma, e a pochi passi di distanza in Corso Monforte, gli allestimenti Golden Hour di Michael Anastassiades nella storica vetrina del flagship store, e Out of Office, un progetto interattivo per il Flos Professional Space.
Thirty-six years after the historic presentation in 1988 that started the era of collaborations with international designers, Flos returns to Palazzo Visconti with an installation about the value of elective affinities in design: the centre of a journey that also included the flagship store and the showroom in Corso Monforte. Flos’ Fuorisalone 2024 is a three-stage journey, a sort of “design triangle”. In the centre, the eighteenth-century Palazzo Visconti in Via Cino del Duca, with the Flos at Palazzo Visconti installation featuring the anniversary editions of the IC of Michael Anastassiades and the new collections by Barber Osgerby and Formafantasma. A few steps away – in Corso Monforte – were two other installations: the Golden Hour by Michael Anastassiades in the historic flagship store and Out of Office, the interactive experience at the Flos Professional Space.
The concept that inspired this journey was born by observing an archive photo of Maria Mulas from 1988. The image portrays, in the hall of Palazzo Visconti in Milan, a group of people – architects, designers, art critics, and journalists – gathered for the presentation of the then-new Flos collections, including the first lamp created by the first international designer for Flos: Philippe Starck. He is at the centre of Maria Mulas’ photo, surrounded by Achille Castiglioni, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Fabio Lombardo, Gillo Dorfles, Italo Lupi, Cristina Morozzi, and many other industry figures, all enthusiastic and smiling.
Palazzo Visconti is the heart of Flos’ presence at the Fuorisalone 2024, but also part of a journey in stages: a sort of “design triangle” with the three corners divided from each other by just 100, 53 and 44 steps that included in addition at the Palazzo, the Flos professional shop and showroom in Corso Monforte.
The showcase of the Corso Monforte flagship dedicated to Golden Hour: an installation curated by Michael Anastassiades to present IC 10 Anniversary, the Special Edition that celebrates the tenth anniversary of IC in a gold finish and the new maxi versions. The curved trajectory of a ball thrown by a juggler initially inspired the concept. Ten years ago, IC was born to re-propose that moment of suspension in space and time. That is a feature further underlined by the new gold finish, a material chosen as synonymous with not luxury but timelessness and that relationship of love and respect that well-designed objects inspire naturally. To support this narrative and as further testimony to the iconic role that the IC has in the collective imagination, in the new issue of the Flos Stories magazine (#9, Spring 24), Michael Anastassiades’ lamp has been interpreted by ten artists active in different disciplines. The result is a kaleidoscope of visions, ten ways of seeing and describing the communicative power and presence of this object that is so familiar and special at the same time.
The Flos professional showroom was instead dedicated to Out of Office, an installation referring to the world of the office and work, to reflect on the possibilities that lighting design and well-conceived interiors offer to stimulate interaction and the development of human relationships in everyday life.
The space has been transformed into an extension of the Arquitectura-G studio (also responsible for the layout of Palazzo Visconti) and furnished with work tables, chairs and lamps from the Workmates series by Flos Architectural, a family of professional luminaires created for the world of the office, that push the boundaries of workspace illumination to new dynamics.
Designers: Michael Anastassiades, Barber Osgerby, Formafantasma, Erwan Bouroullec
Flos Creative Director: Barbara Corti
Flos Store window design: Michael Anastassiades
Exhibition Design: Arquitectura-G
Art direction Content & Communication: Omar Sosa with Apartamento Studios
Event Creative Consultant: Michela Pelizzari with P:S Agency
Movie Director & Designers portrait: LEONE, Luca A. Caizzi
Out of Office micro-interviews: Felix Burrichter and Nicholas Korody
Dress Design: Molly Molloy with Colville
Food experience: Giorgia Eugenia Goggi with Masseria Moroseta
Natural wines: Valentina Passalacqua
Set Stylist: Dimitra Louana Marlanti
Curtains and Pillows Metallic Silver Visconti: Magniberg
Curtains Flos Showroom: Kvadrat
Stools: BD Barcelona
Constructor partner: Benfenati
