New Lighting by Foster + Partners
Aram Store launches two new lights designed by Foster + Partners for Lumina, the Milanese lighting manufacturer, on 13 May. There is a pendant light, called DOT, and a table light called EVA. Both will be presented for the first time on the ground floor of our Covent Garden store.
“We are delighted to be working with Foster + Partners and Lumina to present these beautiful lights, which are ideal for both a domestic and contract environment,” says Ruth Aram.
The DOT pendant light began as an idea to create a ‘disc of light’ made by an assembly of two parallel discs connected by a metal stem. Its simple form belies an inherent complexity that pushes the boundaries of existing technology through years of research. The smaller disc, made of machined aluminium, contains a ring of LEDs that bounce the light off the larger spun metal reflector disc. The result is a minimal pendant light that gives the appearance of a floating disc of light, with no shadow cast by the cooling stem.
“It took us several months to optimize the Dot optical flow and the thermodynamic system. Thanks to a led circuit, a specially designed lens and heat pipe, DOT generates a lot of light, with a very thin LED source,” says Lumina’s Ettore Cimini.
The reflector has a super-matte white finish and is available in 600mm, 800mm and 1100mm diameter and in larger custom sizes. Showcasing an innovative approach towards lens technology and temperature transfer, the lamp is suitable for use as a single pendant or chandelier cluster and comes in brass, anodised graphite, red oxide and ink blue finishes.
EVA is a table-top indirect up-light that emerged from earlier design iterations of a dining table lamp for one of Foster + Partners’ architectural projects. The idea was to create a floating cone of light that emanates a warm glow similar to candlelight.
The entire assembly sits within a glass tube with a round mechanised aluminium base housing a COB LED. The LED projects upwards onto a reflective cone, held flush with the top of the tube by a seamless mitred joint in the glass.
Wrapped around the base is a grooved, free-moving wheel that works as the dimmer, using infrared sensors to achieve precise control over light levels. EVA is available in black, bronze, brass and silver, all in anodised finishes.
Mike Holland, Partner and Head of Industrial Design at Foster + Partners said “The DOT and EVA lamps are the result of a long collaborative design process between Foster + Partners and Lumina, which involved continual refinement and testing to produce the optimum lighting solution – a meticulous fusion of form, technology and material. Both lamps make innovative use of the latest LED and lens technology, embodying their minimalist essence in different ways, DOT as a pendant with a floating disc of light; and EVA a table lamp with a suspended cone of light.”
The two lights will be shown in lifestyle contexts incorporating furniture designed by Foster + Partners, many of which have not been seen before. Pieces include a wooden sideboard and shelving system by Benchmark (designed specifically for the new Maggie’s Centre in Manchester), chairs by Walter Knoll, including its new 525 dining chair, the Arc table by Molteni and the Nomas table by Tecno. The exhibition runs from 13 to 31 May.
Simultaneously, The Aram Gallery is hosting the retrospective exhibition ‘Craft + Manufacture’, which is an extensive exploration of the work of Foster + Partners’ industrial design studio. This runs until 2 July.
ARAM STORE