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Light Imitating Art

-- Interior Design, 10/31/2009 12:00:00 AM

Cross-pollination between the disciplines of art and design has flourished for years, and it is more recently evident in the offerings of Foscarini. Designer Vicente García Jimenez looked to art and architecture for inspiration in his Le Soleil fixture, for instance. Recalling the winding facade of Frank Lloyd Wright's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, it features an asymmetrical shade of opaque polycarbonate bands; the bands' chrome-plated steel inner sides reflect light within and softly outward through the openings. It comes in red, white, and aquamarine. The company's collaboration with fashion label Diesel yields a decidedly different crop of fixtures. One such offering, Rock, is based on the idea of split volcanic rocks, and sports a black multifaceted shade with a contrasting, pale iridescent interior. Meanwhile, construction-site work lights inspired the Cage table lamp, in which a powdercoated steel cage encloses and protects the light source; leave it resting on the tabletop or prop it on the optional stand. The hanging lamp version features a blown-glass diffuser in black, green, or white. 39-41-595-3811; foscarini.it. circle 731