FEATURED STORY
Glowing future
Murano glass in glowing colors, molded to create luminaire bodies, embraced in a fine framework of high-grade metal – the perfection and quality of traditional Venetian craftsmanship is extraordinary. Fascinated by this versatility, back in 1950 Angelo Tosetto founded a workshop from where he set out to introduce handmade Italian luminaires worldwide. “My grandfather always had a passion for modern art and design,” recalls Massimiliano Tosetto, who is now the member of the third generation of the Tosetto family to run the company which, under the new name of “Lodes”, ushered in a new era in the firm’s history two years ago. In Lodes, the Italian family-run company’s strong roots will persist as the team, together with international designers, is busy developing decorative lighting concepts based on constant technological research. Moreover, the purposed-programmed product configurator ensures maximum flexibility, enabling users to devise personal lighting solutions online and study them down to the smallest details. A “customized standard”, as it were, that allows you, for example, to combine a pendant luminaire from the Lodes line with a canopy style, select your preferred version, and adjust the dimensions of the lighting solution to the respective space. “The idea is for the personal design of interiors to be easy, accessible, and effective,” comments Massimiliano Tosetto.
For Lodes, each and every lighting project focuses on the users, for whom an ideal balance of design, personalization, and service is what counts. “We’re the stylists who devise the robes that go around the lighting sources,” he says. In various cases, this occurs in collaboration with international architecture and design studios, such as Snøhetta. “Volum” is the name of the new collection, which provides for 360-degree illumination. “It is the first project we have worked on with Snøhetta, and they have created a product that in terms of complexity, dimensions, and light appearance is, to my mind, quite unique,” Tosetto continues. The scalable pendant luminaire is available in four different sizes and is made of white blown glass. What a viewer primarily sees is the slightly glowing body of the luminaire as all the other technical details remain hidden – even the cables are consciously transparent. As a result, the sphere of the luminaire seems to float in space, and offers pleasant, dazzle-free light. Tosetto suggests that “in my opinion, glass is the best light diffusor.”
“Volum” can now be experienced live in Milan, too: The Lodes showroom there boasts 200 square meters of space, high ceilings, and large windows in a former Napoleonic cavalry barracks, making it an ideal platform for the Venetian company to present its products. Alongside “Volum” by Snøhetta, and fittingly on the occasion of the Milan Design Week in June 2022, “Flar” by Patrick Norguet and “IVY” by Vittorio Massimo, as well as “Easy Peasy” and “Croma” by Luca Nichetto, will all be on show. “It is our goal to give people the right illuminations and thus better quality of life,” concludes Massimiliano Tosetto.
Lodes Showroom
Via della Moscova 33
20121 Milan MI, Italy
