The Light of the Mind
Flos, 2025
On the occasion of Euroluce 2025, the lighting biennial held at Salone del Mobile, Formafantasma collaborated with Flos to design the company’s booth. The project not only showcased a series of seven newly designed products, but also featured a video installation that demonstrated the transformation of ideas and inspirations into concrete design proposals. Realized by director Nicolò Terraneo, seven non-linear short films were each paired with a new product. Additionally, Formafantasma designed Flos’ showroom in Corso Monforte, Milan, with a focus on the lamp collection Superwire. The showroom deconstructed the collection to provide insights into its design and functioning.
Instead of following a traditional, linear narrative, the series of videos titled ‘The Light of the Mind’ reflects the fragmented and associative nature of creative development. Seven non-linear short films – one for each designer presenting their latest product for the company – draw on a mix of materials, including found objects, book excerpts, and glimpses of the prototyping process and the designers’ studios. These diverse elements illustrate the dynamic interplay of references and influences that shape the final design.
By embracing the nonlinear flow of creativity, The Light of the Mind highlights the often unexpected connections that drive the design process. It moves beyond a simple chronological sequence, offering insight into how intuition, experimentation, and technical development coexist and influence the final product. The video installation aimed at providing context without overshadowing the products themselves.
Formafantasma has also designed the interiors of Flos’s showroom in Corso Monforte, with a special focus on the Superwire lamp collection. Through a series of niches and openings, the display allowed visitors to take a closer look at the inner components and mechanisms of the lamps, emphasizing their simplicity and functionality.
The lamps presented, physically disassembled for the viewer to get a deeper understanding of their functioning, were accompanied by the short film that explores Formafantasma’s creative process.
