Large Ceiling Lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, 1960

Large ceiling lamp Taraxacum 2 designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, 1960.
Internal structure in white painted steel, sprayed with special resin cocoon, first production in good condition, measures 90 cm (35.4 inc) and 64 cm (25 inc) height.
Original piece of the 60s, despite the fragility of the material, this Taraxacum pendant lamp is in excellent vintage condition, the cocoon has small spots and imperfections to testify the long past years, the lamp still mounts its original cable with the rare mechanism of ups and downs to adjust the height up to a maximum of 205 cm (80 inc) and a minimum height of 105 cm (40 inc). The original lampshade remains intact with an incredible patina acquired over the years.The lamp has been overhauled by a professional, fully functional.
Of the two versions designed by the Castiglioni brothers this is the largest and the rarest.
Experimenting with a patent of the Heisenkeil company in Merano, acquired by Flos, the Castiglioni family explores the expressive possibilities of a synthetic fiber, already used in some lamps designed by George Nelson and Isamu Noguchi, called the cocoon (cocoon). This material has been used by the US military to preserve the weapons to be transported or no longer in use. The shape of the speakers is generated by the arrangement of the fiber, which rests on the structure, adhering only to the most protruding points. The luminaires are formed, in fact, by a thin core of white lacquered metal rod, wrapped by the casing obtained from a film formed by plastic polymers sprayed. In this way volumes of unusual shape are obtained, certainly intuited by the designers, but that could hardly have been designed without experimentation in the laboratory. In fact, the final shape is the result of a punctual intervention in the rotation of the structure, during the spraying of the fiber, more intense in the points of greater protrusion than in other areas.