DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: The famous tale of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp inspires this object’s shape while modern technology creates its magic effects. Made of a black carbon fiber epoxy resin, the lamp turns on/ off/ dimming at the lightest touch. Conceived as table lamp, wall or suspension, this fantasy object is dedicated – on his specific request - to Arturo Brachetti, new genius of the lamp and internationally well-known, extraordinary quick-change actor. For him the object is called ‘…quel genio di Arturo!’ . Users are stimulated to interact with the bright intensity of the lamp and - metaphorically - to express their desires. The object evokes and brings to life the fantastic hidden within each and every one of us.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: The prototype of ‘…quel genio di Arturo!’ was realized as part of the collection 'interioritratti' (www.interioritratti.com), the brand I created to start my projects artistically inspired. As I think this design fits well to serial production I want to propose it to an interested company. The lamp is suitable to create evocative environments, in SPA, restaurants and hotels. The material and the particularity turns it interesting also for the Interior Yacht Design. It would be interesting to realize also, in agreement with this company, a limited edition to propose during the future tournèe of Arturo Brachetti in the United States (first in New York) and in East. In this particular case, the lamp would be aimed primarily at an audience of collectors.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: When I decided which projects to include in the collection 'interioritratti' I had occasion to talk with Arturo Brachetti, met at work, when I was doing the final project of the multimedial 'Museum of the Clown' set in Villa Grock, Imperia. Arturo, an extraordinary person as well as an artist, proposed to dedicate him an object ... it was then that I remembered the 'Aladdin's Lamp', one of the sketches that for some time I had in a drawer, with many others. The idea pleased him and the adventure began ... the following year, when the first prototype was almost ready, I was invited by the Foreign Centre for Internationalisation of Piedmont (CEI) to present it at the San Domenico in New York, during an event about the Piedmont Region and the City of Turin whose promotional films were interpreted wonderfully by Arturo ... it seemed to me an extraordinary coincidence. For the occasion, Arturo asked that the lamp, as well as turned on at the touch, also did smoke ... and so it was!
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: The particularity of this lamp is the shell made of carbon fiber that requires a processing complex, with finishing operations by hand. The body made of carbon fiber has been carefully shaped by Michele Garofalo, formed in Pininfarina, who lives and works now in Cagliari, where we met when I was working on the project of setting up the Europen Jazz Expo, in Monteclaro Park. The ancient form is reinterpreted with contemporary materials and technologies, while the base, when present (in the table and wall lamp), is intentionally geometrical and essential.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: One of the key aspects of this subject, because magical and emotional, is that it turns on/ off/dimming at the lightest touch (of course it is LED lighting). This allows a user to interact with the lamp, approaching the imagery related the tale of Aladdin's lamp, and stimulates his own imagination. The golden leaf that shields the light inside the lamp, has an engraving laser - I chose the word 'Desidera' - that wanting can be customized. For aspects of illumination of this as of other objects of the collection 'interioritratti' I worked in partnership with the TGE (www.tge.it), company expert in electrical installations of large dimensions, which in this case is adept on prototypes.