In the age of unlimited possibilities provided by computer-aided conceptual work in architecture and design, photo-realistic images can quickly be created to suggest to the observer that the product has already been developed down to the final detail. However, it is often the execution of the craftsman’s handicraft and its limitations which leads to new forms and solutions. The principle that “possibilities are limited“ is converted into creative potential, all the more so when the experience of a master craftsman can be called on.

This ideal constellation has been made the basis for an experiment by the Fabrica Research Center, which was founded by Benetton, and master glass blower Massimo Lunardon. For one day a selected group of young designers from all over the world was invited to join him in his workshop, in order to use the traditional techniques of glass blowing to design new lamps from heat-resistant Pyrex glass. No previously prepared designs were accepted, and it was not permitted to make drafts or models. All the lamps had to be created on the spot by hand.

In “Liquid Lights“ the result was a collection of lamps which acquire their poetic effect from the simplicity of the means which are used. Surprising, ironic and playful moments are created by lamps which use a little “twist“ to literally cast traditional lamp typologies in a new light.


It is a happy coincidence that the well-known Spanish lamp manufacturer Metalarte has shown the courage to include “Liquid Lights“ in its collection.