An illuminating object that can have a hybrid use, in the home as well as in a hotel.

From a long-standing relationship of esteem and collaboration between Icone and Giulio Cappellini, the Lama Lamp family was born.

“I always like to work on what I call the ‘overall business project’ and then try to keep that red thread that connects all the projects a bit,” says Cappellini, art director of Icone.

“Clearly working then as an art director in a company makes you want to design something and open the doors a little bit,” Cappellini continued, “I started designing, together with Leonardo Talarico, this product for Icone and in the future we will open, as Icone, more and more our doors to external collaborations.”

So far, Icone’s products have been designed by Marco Pagnoncelli, one of the brothers who owns the company, always with a very clean and minimal style. A design attitude that can then change through the different finishes of the object

How did the Lama lamp collection come about?

“Working on thicknesses and materials. I am convinced that if you know the material well you can give the right expression. I always like thicknesses either very thick or very thin, and that’s kind of always the challenge I bring to all the materials I use, from metal to wood to ceramic…. For example, when I do a new sink with Flaminio, it has to be either very thin or very thick.”

In the case of Lama, the idea was just to create a very synthetic shape, created by two intersecting cones, however, trying to work with the thicknesses, thin, of the metal.

“And especially trying to make a product that is only seemingly simple, however, from a construction point of view it is not so simple. Working on the complexity of the design means that maybe the product is not immediately attackable,” Cappellini commented. “So we worked on different scales. We are at the beginning of this connection: in addition to the small table lamp, the floor lamp and the large table lamp, suspensions and more will follow.”

“As things develop you realize that maybe the uses can be hybrid. Resting not on a table or coffee table, but on the floor the large table lamp, you realize that it can be, by itself, a light table. We are working on making this object a light sculpture that acts as both a lamp and a side table.”

“This is the first project for Icons, which we have been pursuing with Leonardo Talarico for some time. The pandemic has slowed us down a lot; I am someone who needs to touch and see objects. In a virtual way you can see eighty percent of things, but never one hundred percent. We are absolutely happy with the first results, these are the first prototypes we are previewing, very soon the whole family of lamps will be completed.”

Once again here is an Icone product that changes its appearance depending on the type of finish, an object that can be set, can fit in a house as well as in a hotel.

“I hope it will be a first product in design collaboration, not art direction, with Icone and that it will have its own luck,” Cappellini concluded.