The series “Candelotto” born from a declaration of war against the infamous light bulb hanging from the corrugated tube.
A common situation, often destined to remain for years and years after the end of the building site.
Candelotto is not a piece of design, but a system every time adaptable to different situations. Its goal is to ensure that artificial light in the interior is well done from the first day of occupancy of the building. The cost of a Candelotto is nearly zero. This is why it is, in our architectural practice, the accessible lamp par excellence.
Candelotto is a handmade product, each time unique. It is never repeated, but only diversified through variations. Each piece born together with the architecture that hosts it and interferes with it much more than a traditional lamp. Light becomes part of architecture, it constitutes its final note.
The Candelotto series born in the context of what we call Instant Design. An instantaneous design, in its conception as well in its material realization.
The technical element that underlies the project is the simple thermoplastic lamp holder, in the E14 and E27 version.
In search of the cheapest element able to contain it, we choose finally the raw iron pipe.
A tube with a diameter of 30 mm and a thickness of 2 mm, can accommodate the E14 lampholder, which has a diameter of 26 mm.
A tube with a diameter of 45 mm it is instead the element to be used for E27 lampholder.
The adherence to universal standards guarantees maximum interchangeability of the lamps and the possibility of technological updating, especially for purposes of energy consumption containment.
Every lighting requirement generates a different shape. The need for light from above leads to a Candelotto hanging vertically, suspended horizontally or fixed to the ceiling. The need for a simple additional light generates the lamp to be placed freely on the floor. The need for maneuverable light, for example for a laboratory, leads to a wall-mounted rotating lamp. The need for fixed ambient light, generates the wall-mounted Candelotto. Candelotto generates free light in the space, without hoods or niches. This particularity maximizes light output, with the lowest energy consumption.
No decorative element is added. This radically inexpensive solution leads to clarify the subtle difference between minimal and minimum.
Where the former is expensive sophistication, the latter is based on a virtuous rarefaction of the superfluous.
Democratizing products design – without incurring in the massification of the product – is the great goal of these pieces. Every Candelotto is far from industrial design and closer to craftsmanship in their being always different and adaptable to varied needs. An inexpensive lamp can be installed anywhere and break through the restricted circuits of the happy few that can afford the products of the notables companies.
In a world that from clothing to furnishing uniforms everyone in a standard, these unique and deliberately unrepeated artisan products stands as a critical shore to a capitalism that makes us consumers of the same commodity. The series Candelotto born from the refusal that the design of an object can adapt to many different places without being touched. Each different nuance reaffirms the singularity of each situation, offering itself as an interpretation every time original, each time dedicated to a specific place or a specific client.
No “idea” therefore, no “concept”, no “eureka”. Like all the pieces of Instant Design, also Candelotto is based on two fundamental reductions:
1_Reduction in the quantity of material used and its unit cost.
2_Reduction of the necessary manpower hours.
A steel rod of 6 meters, taken from a retailer costs 11 €. There is no finish, but some beeswax spred with extrafine metallic sponge and a final touch with a woolen rag.
The thermoplastic lamp holder costs 50 cents: the light bulb is the most expensive element!
In these infinitesimal numbers lies the disruptive nature of the Candelotto project.
