The Icons That Made Flos

More Than 60 Years of Lighting That Never Goes Out of Style

Some designs belong unmistakably to the era in which they were created. Others somehow escape it.

For more than six decades, Flos has built a catalogue filled with the latter. Since its founding in Italy in 1962, the brand has worked with some of the most influential names in design, creating lights that have become reference points for generations of designers while remaining remarkably at home in contemporary interiors.

Many of the most enduring Flos icons emerged from a particularly fertile period of Italian design, when experimentation with new materials, industrial processes, and changing ways of living challenged designers to reconsider what everyday objects could be. Function was important, but so were curiosity, wit, and the pleasure of solving familiar problems in unfamiliar ways.

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That spirit can be seen throughout the Flos archive. A floor lamp becomes a way to bring overhead light anywhere. A chandelier is reduced to a network of exposed bulbs and wires. A table lamp borrows its silhouette from a cartoon character. More than half a century later, these ideas still feel fresh.

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Taccia

Designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

What if you took a ceiling lamp and turned it upside down?

That deceptively simple idea helped inspire Taccia, one of Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni's most recognizable designs. Rather than directing light downward from above, its large reflector rests atop a distinctive grooved base, casting indirect light upward. The base itself is another example of the Castiglionis' fascination with industrial forms. Although its fluted silhouette has often been compared to a classical column, its inspiration was far more utilitarian: a radiator. Originally, the grooves helped dissipate heat, an engineering necessity that has since been made obsolete by LED technology, but remains integral to Taccia's identity.

Sculptural, functional, and rooted in industrial ingenuity, Taccia embodies much of what would make Flos synonymous with Italian modern design.

Parentesi

Designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pio Manzù, 1971

Parentesi barely resembles a conventional lamp. Instead, it turns the architecture of a room into part of the lighting system.

Suspended between the floor and ceiling on a tensioned cable, the lamp can move vertically along its length and rotate to direct illumination where it's needed. The concept originated with Pio Manzù and was later developed by Achille Castiglioni following Manzù's death, becoming a remarkably minimal solution to adjustable lighting. There is very little decoration because there is very little that isn't necessary. Cable, tube, light source: the mechanics are visible and become the design itself. More than 50 years later, its adaptability feels particularly contemporary.

Snoopy

Designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1967

The Castiglioni brothers had a particular talent for finding inspiration in ordinary, and sometimes unexpected places.

For Snoopy, the reference is right there in the name. Its distinctive silhouette playfully recalls the profile of Charles Schulz's famous cartoon beagle, with a broad enamelled reflector perched atop a substantial cylindrical marble base.

But the humour never overwhelms the design. Snoopy's playful personality is balanced by precise proportions and refined materials, creating an object that can feel both whimsical and sophisticated.

It's a reminder that serious design doesn't necessarily have to take itself seriously.

Arco

Designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

How do you place a pendant light over a table without drilling into the ceiling?

Arco answered that question in 1962 with one enormous sweep of stainless steel. Its dramatic curved stem extends from a heavy Carrara marble base, allowing the light source to reach far into a room while remaining completely freestanding. Even the marble block is carefully considered: its weight provides the necessary counterbalance, while a hole through the base allows two people to move it with the help of a simple pole.

It is this combination of practicality and visual drama that has made Arco one of the most recognizable lamps of the 20th century. Rather than disguising how the object works, every functional decision contributes to its character.

2097

Designed by Gino Sarfatti, 1958

Before Flos itself was founded, Gino Sarfatti was already radically reconsidering what a chandelier could look like.

Designed in 1958, 2097 removes the ornament traditionally associated with chandeliers and exposes almost everything instead. Bulbs, arms, sockets, and cables form an intricate geometric structure around a central steel column.

The effect is simultaneously industrial and theatrical. Rather than hiding the electrical components required to produce light, Sarfatti made them the composition. Later brought into the Flos collection, 2097 has become one of the brand's defining icons, and a striking example of how an object designed nearly seven decades ago can still look distinctly modern.

Why Flos Endures

Looking across these designs, there isn't a single aesthetic that defines a Flos icon. Arco's sweeping silhouette bears little resemblance to the stripped-back mechanics of Parentesi; Snoopy's humour is worlds away from the intricate geometry of 2097. What truly connects all of these designs is an approach to design.

These are lights born from questions: Can a ceiling light be turned upside down? Can overhead illumination exist without a ceiling connection? What happens when the mechanics of a chandelier are exposed rather than concealed?

Flos has spent more than 60 years giving designers the freedom to explore those questions. In doing so, the brand has created objects that don't simply represent milestones in lighting history. They continue to illuminate the way we live now.

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Watch Design Stories: Flos Icons