Scandinavia Design

Taccia – Flos

Achille & Pier G. Castiglioni, 1962

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The Taccia lamp was designed by Italian designers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in 1962. 

FLOS TACCIA

Taccia combines highly refined materials, such as the blown glass used for its bowl-shaped diffuser - the glass comes from Murano, an Italian island in the Venetian lagoon renowned for its long tradition of glassmaking - and more industrial elements, such as its extruded aluminum body, whose shape is reminiscent of a stylized gear. 

The result is a stunning lamp, both classic and modern. Timeless.

FLOS TACCIA

Today, the bulb inside the base has been replaced by an integrated LED plate to keep pace with technological developments in lighting. This plate emits a fairly warm light (2700K). 

It passes through the glass bowl towards a concave white-painted aluminum reflector, shiny on the outside and matte on the inside. The light is thus redirected largely downwards, for indirect, glare-free lighting.

The Taccia lamp is wired with a dimmable ON/OFF switch, enabling light intensity to be adjusted from 10 to 100%.

FLOS TACCIA
FLOS TACCIA

A little subtlety: the bowl, simply placed on the base, can be freely positioned with a simple wave of the hand. So you can direct the light to suit your needs. The Taccia lamp can be used as a table lamp, but it can also be placed on the floor, as a spotlight.

In 2016, Flos launched a smaller version - the Taccia Small - to meet demand for lighting in smaller spaces. 

FLOS TACCIA

A new version of the classic lamp has also been released: the bowl, originally made from blown glass, is now available in PMMA, a polymer also known as acrylic glass. It's transparent, very strong (not to say indestructible), lighter and much more affordable than glass. 

In fact, this material is much closer to the lamp originally imagined by the Castiglioni brothers, who had to turn to glass for reasons of heat resistance: an LED turntable, unlike a conventional bulb, heats up very little, if at all.

2-year warranty.

Taccia Small

Dimensions H48,5 x Ø37,3 cm – cable 190 cm
Light source LED integrated, 2700K, dimmer 10-100%
Materials base in ABS and nickel-plated polycarbonate, body in extruded aluminum, reflector in painted aluminum, diffuser in clear blown glass

FLOS TACCIA SMALL
FLOS TACCIA SMALL

Taccia Small – matt black

Taccia Small – anodized silver

FLOS TACCIA SMALL
FLOS TACCIA SMALL

Taccia Small – anodized bronze

Taccia Small – matt white

Taccia

Dimensions H64,5 x Ø49,5 cm – câble 220 cm
Light source LED integrated, 2700K, dimmer 10-100%
Materials base in nickel-plated metal, body in extruded aluminum, reflector in painted aluminum, diffuser in PMMA (acrylic glass) or transparent blown glass

FLOS TACCIA
FLOS TACCIA

Taccia reflector PMMA – matt black

Taccia reflector PMMA – anodized silver

Taccia reflector glass – matt black

Taccia reflector glass – anodized silver

FLOS TACCIA
FLOS TACCIA

Taccia reflector PMMA – anodized bronze

Taccia reflector glass – matt white

Taccia reflector glass – anodized bronze

Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

Achille Castigliono, about the Taccia lamp

 “The story around this lamp is pretty interesting. It's interesting because someone mistook it for a post-modern object. It's very funny because this lamp dates from 1962, and my brother and I had no intention of making a post-modern lamp.

 I have to admit that this lamp was poorly designed, funnily enough. Clear plastic was needed to make the bowl. So we tested the object and were pleasantly surprised. When heated, the plastic flattened. So our object was extremely poorly designed. So we tried it in glass.

 And you see this columnar shape, well, let's say it's a casing. It cools this kind of heating part, the base. At the base of the object, the heat is so intense that increasing the volume of its surface means its cooling, like an engine, like the fins of an engine.”

Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

Manufacturing process

The glass bowl is made in Murano, in the province of Venice. The manufacturing process is meticulous and time-consuming.

The sand first passes through a firebrick furnace to become an incandescent magma like “honey” at 1000/1600°C. Through a 2.5-meter-long stainless steel pipe, experienced craftsmen blow this “honey” into an underground mold, the same one used since the 1960s. Detached from the pipe with water, the bowl is then placed in a “Muffola” oven for 24 hours, to slowly reach room temperature.

The bowl is then sent to be cut by hand, obtaining the bowl's final shape. A unique, handmade glass bowl with exceptional transparency, size and quality.

Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962
Lampe TACCIA  Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Italian architects and designers Achille Castiglioni (1918-2002) and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (1913-1968) are among the greatest names in modern Italian design. Their father was a notable architect, Giannino Castiglioni, and their brother, Livio Castiglioni, also became an architect and designer. Achille and Pier Giacomo both studied architecture at Milan's Polytechnic and then taught. Their collaboration was productive and innovative, and their designs often radical and humorous.

Like the designers of the first half of the 20th century, the Castiglioni brothers derived the beauty of an object from its function. Purity of line, sober components, quality of materials: aesthetics intervene to support function.