Design Gino Sarfatti, 2023

In 1958, Gino Sarfatti designed the 2097 chandelier to bring the Murano glass tradition of the chandelier into modernity. A stroke of genius that is 65 years old but does not show it in the slightest. And today, during the Milan Design Week 2023, Flos proposes another renewal operation by completing the 2097 family with a larger model, with 75 bulbs. All 2097 versions are now also proposed in a totally matte white version: from the body to the cables to the light fittings.

Historically, the Murano glass chandelier is a creation composed of a metal structure made invisible by the glass that supports both candles and decorative elements mounted to reflect diffused light in large rooms. When designing 2097, Gino Sarfatti had an ingenious intuition: to transform cables and light bulbs from purely functional tools to main players in the design, acting as decorative and structural elements at the same time. It was a disruptive choice that allowed him to eliminate the traditional refractors and pendants that had qualified this type of lighting fixture up to that time.

To give substance to this revolution, Sarfatti proceeded step by step. First, he increased the number of bulbs, and brought them into view. This made the chandelier structure thoroughly visible: and he proceeded in redesigning it by giving it a spherical shape and an elegant vertical movement. The central body is now thus composed of a simple tube hanging from the ceiling that mounts the rods supporting the bulbs. Each bulb is in turn reached by a wire from the central body. The rods have different lengths that gradually reduce as they travel up the tube, creating the shape of a sphere.

The new version with 75 bulbs

A creation of great scenic impact, 2097 is now offered by Flos in an even larger and more striking version, with 75 LED bulbs, inspired by an original design of Sarfatti himself. A format that makes the chandelier an even more unique masterpiece, ideal for large spaces and double volumes in contract and residential settings. The bulbs of 2097/75 have been resized compared to the traditional ones, to make them more coherent with the new scale of the entire concept.

As for the whole family, there are two possible solutions for the luminaires: clear and very warm bulbs at 2200 K temperature, or frosted with a slightly cooler temperature of 2700 K.

Photo: © Adrianna Glaviano

Flos