Flamingo, what if it were …

We are talking to Antoni Arola about his creation for Vibia, Flamingo. A collection of suspended light fittings with translucent shades that give off a soft ambient lighting and LED lights for a more focused illumination, which the Catalan designer imagines as a place, an emotion, an image and an animal.

… “so if Flamingo were a place, that would be the Delta del Ebro” points out the designer, highlighting the horizontality, verticality, and light of this extraordinary nature park. Fruit orchards, paddy fields, dunes, lagoons, beaches, and marshes that recreate a bird in flight which with Flamingo become subtle diffusers and spotlights.

Vibia The Edit - Flamingo what if it were

Separate from one another but complementary and layered like the different natural ecosystems of the natural park that create subtle concave and convex forms to create a new topography through light.

Vibia The Edit - The Story Behind Flamingo with Antoni Arola

… “And if it were a feeling, it would be a watchful calmness based on its delicate animalist presence.” A choice that reflects the subtle design of both collections where disks and spotlights are suspended in space providing character and personality while also melting into the background.

A watchful calmness that makes Flamingo two silent observers, always there without distracting.

… “Scandinavian recollections or the successor to Castiglioni would describe Flamingo if it were an image”,, adds Arola. Combining different diffusers of different shapes and transparencies the designer recreates a spatial experience of lighting that recalls those ambiences of architectural masters such as Alvar Aalto of Finland, or Gunnar Asplund of Sweden, expressed through their characteristic use of roof lights; and other designs like those of Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for the Industrial Design Pavilion at the Milan Triennale of 1954.