Bocci

Last updated

Bocci
Company type Private company
Industry design
Founded2005
Founders Omer Arbel, Randy Bishop
Headquarters
Key people
Omer Arbel
(Creative Director)
Randy Bishop
(CEO)
Products lighting,
objets,
electrical accessories
Website BOCCI

Bocci is a Canadian design and manufacturing company based in Vancouver and Berlin, founded in 2005 by Randy Bishop and Omer Arbel. [1] Bocci specializes in sculptural lighting and large light installations. [2]

Contents

History

The company began in 2005 after a chance meeting between Randy Bishop and Omer Arbel during New York Design Week. Arbel was exhibiting an early prototype of '14', a cast-glass pendant light and Bishop was attending a candy convention on the floor above. [1] Upon returning to Vancouver, Bishop and Arbel launched Bocci and began production of 14. Bishop currently handles the business side of the company while Arbel is creative director. [3]

Design

Bocci currently offers seven families of ambient lighting (14, 16, 21, 28, 38, 57 & 73), two design objets (19 & 25) and one collection of electrical accessories (22). [4] The collections are named numerically to reflect their place in the chronology of Arbel's creative process; very few of his designs have commercial viability, hence the gaps between the series numbers. [5]

14 is a cast-glass pendant fastened by a borosilicate glass lamp holder. It can be suspended by coaxial cable in its chandelier form or fastened to the wall as a surface-mount light. [6] It has been described as giving the effect of "a candle floating in water" and is considered a classic piece of Canadian design. [7] 14 received a Red Dot Award and a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Design in 2007.

16 is a new addition to the Bocci collection. It was unveiled as a large outdoor installation on 5 March 2015 at Vancouver's Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. 16 has an innovative armature system which carries a low-voltage charge, eliminating the need for interior wiring. The pendants are composed of two-halves made by free pouring three separate layers of hot glass: first milk white, then transparent grey, and finally clear. The two-halves of the piece contain a flat ring-shaped LED lamp that preserves the leaf-like appearance of the finished product, and the "leaves" are attached to a stainless steel armature that may be hung as a chandelier or emerge from the ground in a configuration similar to a tree. [8] 16 is the first piece to use this novel armature system but it will soon be adapted for use in other Bocci collections. 16 will officially debut at Euroluce 2015 in Milan.

19 is an exploration of sand-casting using high copper content brass. A void is made in sand and then filled with molten metal, resulting in a natural overspill that is usually removed in post-production. In the case of 19, the overspill is the highlight of the piece – left raw and oxidized while the centre is polished to a mirror finish. 19 comes in three sizes, each numbered and signed. [9] 19 received a Red Dot Award in 2011.

21 is composed of thin sheets of porcelain draped around a trumpet shaped borosilicate diffuser. The porcelain is allowed to take whatever form comes naturally, and as such each piece is unique. [10] 21 was a finalist for the D&AD Yellow Pencil Award and was awarded "Best of Year" by Interior Design Magazine in 2008.

22 is a suite of electrical accessories that eliminate the need for a visible cover plate. [11] Operative components (such as outlets, switches, and ports) are designed to sit flush with any surface they are mounted to. [12] The 22 series won a Red Dot Award, a Yellow Pencil Yearbook Entry and an iF Design Award in 2009. 22 holds US Patent Numbers 7,956,295 and 8,232,482. [13]

25 is a bench that avoids the traditional upholstery technique of covering foam with fabric, relying rather on excess fabric to provide a comfortable seat. The extra cloth is allowed to fold randomly and changes over time with use. [14] At the time of writing 25 had finished its run and is on indefinite backorder.

28 is a hand-blown glass pendant with randomly composed interior satellites, one of which acts as a lamp holder. [15] The satellites are created using a technique requiring inversion of the direction of airflow into glass and the subsequent creation of a vacuum, resulting in a controlled implosion. [16] 28s may be suspended by coaxial cable or copper wire in chandelier form or mounted directly to the wall. They come in a multitude of colours and won a Red Dot Award in 2012, an iF Design Award in 2011, and a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Design in 2010. The collection debuted at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan in 2010 and was later exhibited on a much grander scale at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2013. [17]

38 is an extreme exploration of the same glass-blowing technique used to create 28. Large glass spheres are filled with random milk-white satellites, some deep enough to house succulents or cacti plants. [18] 38s are suspended with rigid copper tubing. In 2014 Mallett Antiques played host to a large collection of 38s tumbling down the exterior walls of their building on Dover Street. [19] 38 was "highly commended" at the Architectural Review Emerging Architecture Awards in 2012.

57 explores a technique similar to that used to create closed-cell foam, but using molten glass, resulting in an irregularly shaped pendant with random interior bubbles. The bubbles are invisible until the lamp is turned on, revealing hidden complexity. [20] 57 premiered during Bocci's first showing at Euroluce in 2013 and has since received a Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Design. [20] A large installation of 57 pendants was recently unveiled at the re-opening of Canada House on Trafalgar Square in London on 19 February 2015. [21]

73 previewed at the Paris design exhibition Maison & Objet in January 2015. [22] Glass is blown into a heat-resistant ceramic fabric, creating a unique shape and texture for each piece. 73 is meant to be clustered in groups to emphasize the effect of glass "clouds." [22] 73's full range of application will be shown at Euroluce 2015 in Milan alongside 16.

Projects

Bocci often participates in large public installations. In 2013, 280 of the 28 series glass pendants were suspended in the entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, cascading more than 30 metres down in a tangle of copper wires. [23] In 2014, Arbel worked with Mallett Antiques to infuse their entire showroom with contemporary light installations - examples of 28, 38, and 57 crept through the entire building and spilled out onto Dover Street. [19] Canada's embassy in London was closed for renovations and reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in February 2015 with 157 of Bocci's 57 series highlighting the central staircase. [21] On 5 March 2014, Bocci and Omer Arbel unveiled the new 16 as a large outdoor installation at the entrance to Vancouver's Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel. [8] These ambitious public works appear to have been warmly received. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) announced on 16 March 2015 that Omer Arbel would be awarded the Allied Arts Medal for 2015 based on the 28.280 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The award is given once every two years to a Canadian artist or designer for outstanding achievement in artwork designed to be integrated with architecture. [24] After breaking into Euroluce for the first time in 2013, [25] Bocci is set to show again in April 2015. Euroluce 2015 coincides with Bocci's 10th anniversary and announcement of a major Berlin expansion. Bocci recently signed a 10-year lease on a historic 6-storey courthouse in Berlin's Charlottenburg district, with a central staircase destined to act as a laboratory for more ambitious installations. The Berlin office will also have a glassblowing studio meaning Bocci will be in production outside of Vancouver for the first time. [26]

79

Bocci Berlin opened 6 November 2015. [27] The new showroom and 'living archive' features more than 40 rooms showing different products alongside experiments and projects that are not part of the Bocci catalogue. [27] Bocci Berlin will continue the company tradition of in-house manufacturing with the addition of a glassblowing and ceramics studio to the property. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandelier</span> Branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings

A chandelier is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now incandescent light bulbs are commonly used, as well as fluorescent lamps and LEDs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiffany lamp</span> Type of lamp with a glass shade

A Tiffany lamp is a type of lamp made of glass and shade designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany or artisans, mostly women, and made in his design studio. The glass in the lampshades is put together with the copper-foil technique instead of leaded, the classic technique for stained-glass windows. Tiffany lamps are considered part of the Art Nouveau movement. Considerable numbers of designs were produced from 1893 onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light fixture</span> Electrical device with an electric lamp

A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical lighting device containing one or more light sources, such as lamps, and all the accessory components required for its operation to provide illumination to the environment. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more lamps. The lamps may be in sockets for easy replacement—or, in the case of some LED fixtures, hard-wired in place.

Josiah McElheny is an artist and sculptor, primarily known for his work with glass blowing and assemblages of glass and mirrored glassed objects. He is a 2006 recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program. He lives and works in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Echelman</span> American sculptor and artist

Janet Echelman is an American sculptor and fiber artist. Her sculptures have been displayed as public art, often as site-specific installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milan Furniture Fair</span> Furniture fair held annually in Milan

The Milan Furniture Fair is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countries around the world. It is considered a leading venue for the display of new products by designers of furniture, lighting and other home furnishings. The show, also known as "Salone", "Milano Salone" and "Milan Design Week", is held every year, usually in April, in the FieraMilano complex in the Milan metropolitan area town of Rho. Besides the Salone, in April every odd year Euroluce exhibition takes place and every even year EuroCucina and the International Bathroom Exhibition are held along the Milan Furniture Fair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barber Osgerby</span> British industrial design company

Barber Osgerby is a London-based industrial design studio founded in 1996 by British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. Historically named variously Barber Osgerby Associates, BOA, Barber & Osgerby and BarberOsgerby, the practice has been called Barber Osgerby since 2008. Barber and Osgerby's work encompasses interiors, furniture, lighting and product design as well as art and architectural-scale projects.

Omer Arbel is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Vancouver. His output is broad, including materials research, lighting design, building design and site specific installations. He is one of two co-founders of Bocci, a Canadian design and manufacturing company. Arbel's designs are numbered in order of creation. Arbel invents processes that generate novel forms, privileging analog processes and traditional skills such as glassblowing, concrete forming, and metalwork as ongoing sources of inspiration and innovation. The objects, installations, and buildings realized in this way are to some degree unpredictable and variable, a meeting place between nature and technology, a potentially endless series of exceptions for which there is no restrictive rule.

<i>DNA Tower</i>

DNA Tower, a public sculpture by American glass artist Dale Chihuly, is in the Morris Mills Atrium of the VanNuys Medical Science Building, on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It was commissioned for the Indiana University School of Medicine through a gift from an anonymous donor and was dedicated on September 30, 2003.

<i>Fireworks of Glass Tower and Ceiling</i> Blown glass sculpture in Indianapolis

Fireworks of Glass Tower and Ceiling, also known as Fireworks of Glass, is a blown glass sculpture installation in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America. The tower sits on a glass base, a pergola ceiling, and rises through the center of the museum's spiraling ramp system. Created by Dale Chihuly in 2006, it is his second-largest permanently installed glass sculpture. Beneath the tower is an accompanying exhibit that describes the sculpture and the process by which it was made. The tower and pergola ceiling are two distinct accessioned objects in the Children's Museum's collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thewa</span>

Thewa is a special art of jewelry making which involves fusing of intricately worked-out sheet gold on molten glass. It evolved in Pratapgarh district, Rajasthan India. Its origin dates back to the rajput era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Randall</span>

Alexandra Verity Randall is an English lighting designer and artist. She is known for her use of unconventional materials in large-scale chandeliers, such as taxidermy rawhide and salvaged materials. Her studio is based in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arik Levy</span> Israeli industrian designer

Arik Levy was born in Tel Aviv. An artist and industrial designer, he attended the Art Center Europe in Switzerland where he graduated with distinction in 1991. Levy employs a multi-disciplinary approach in both the art and industrial design fields. His works have been included in multiple museum collections. Levy lives and works in Paris.

David Wiseman is an American artist and designer whose work is known for its detailed craftsmanship and dialogue with traditional filigree decorative arts. His work spans from bronze filigree patterned screens and gates to bronze and terrazzo furniture, and from animal sculptures to porcelain vases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myfanwy Macleod</span> Canadian artist (born 1961)

Myfanwy MacLeod is a Canadian artist who lives, and works, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has exhibited work in Canada, the United States of America, and Europe. MacLeod received an award from La Fondation André Piolat (1995), and a VIVA award from the Doris and Jack Shadbolt Foundation (1999). She has work in public, and private collections, including at the National Art Gallery of Canada, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marianne Nicolson</span> Canadian artist (born 1969)

Marianne Nicolson is a Dzawada’enuxw visual artist whose work explores the margins at which public access to First Nations artifacts clashes with the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge. She utilizes painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, and installation to create modern depictions of traditional Kwakwaka’wakw beliefs, and has exhibited in Canada and throughout the world since 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio Drift</span> Dutch art collective

Studio Drift is an Amsterdam-based artist duo founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn in 2007. It specializes in choreographed sculptures and kinetic installations, with the focus to re-establish the connection between humans and earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fredrikson Stallard</span>

Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard, are two artists who work together as the collaborative art and design studio Fredrikson Stallard. Their furniture and sculptures are recognised as examples of the British avant garde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilan Garibi</span> Israeli origami artist and designer (born 1965)

Ilan Garibi is an Israeli origami artist and designer. He started his way in the world of art and design as a paper origami artist, and today also designs furniture, jewelry and works of art out of a variety of materials, such as metals, wood, and glass. He masters an origami genre called Tessellation. During 2012 he co-established Origamisrael, the Israeli origami artists' organization, and he is its chairman ever since. He is an author of several books in the fields of origami and puzzles. In September 2019, Garibi presented a TEDx talk as part of TEDxPaloAltoSalon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cut glass</span> Glass with geometrical incised patterns

Cut glass or cut-glass is a technique and a style of decorating glass. For some time the style has often been produced by other techniques such as the use of moulding, but the original technique of cutting glass on an abrasive wheel is still used in luxury products. On glassware vessels, the style typically consists of furrowed faces at angles to each other in complicated patterns, while for lighting fixtures, the style consists of flat or curved facets on small hanging pieces, often all over. Historically, cut glass was shaped using "coldwork" techniques of grinding or drilling, applied as a secondary stage to a piece of glass made by conventional processes such as glassblowing.

References

  1. 1 2 "Made in Vancouver: Omer Arbel | Vancouver Magazine". Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  2. Mckeough, Tim (16 March 2011). "Glass Lamps - Shopping With Omer Arbel". The New York Times.
  3. "The Secret of Bocci's Success - Azure Magazine". 13 January 2015.
  4. "Homepage - Bocci". Bocci.
  5. "Made in Vancouver: Omer Arbel | Vancouver Magazine". Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  6. "14 Overview » Bocci". Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  7. "H&H's Summer Reading List: 14 of Our Favorite Design Books".
  8. 1 2 Magazine, Wallpaper* (9 March 2015). "Canadian design firm Bocci lights up the Vancouver sky - Art - Wallpaper* Magazine".
  9. Bjerke, Constantin (28 April 2011). "Omer Arbel's Industrial Design For Bocci (VIDEO)". HuffPost .
  10. krisztinamatyi (23 May 2014). "21 Series Lighting by Omer Arbel for Bocci".
  11. "Bocci's 22 Makes the Outlet Cover Plate Obsolete | NBC Bay Area". Archived from the original on 6 April 2015.
  12. "Seamless Plugs: Goodbye to Your Cover Plate".
  13. "22 Overview » Bocci". Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  14. "Omer Arbel - MONTECRISTO".
  15. "Making the Bocci 28 series chandelier - Dezeen". 23 May 2011.
  16. The Daily Telegraph
  17. Viladas, Pilar (14 September 2013). "Primer - What Not to Miss at This Year's London Design Festival". T Magazine.
  18. "Bocci's 38 series by Omer Arbel - Dezeen". 10 April 2012.
  19. 1 2 "BOCCI x Mallett at Ely House :: THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL". londondesignfestival.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Bocci 57 series movie". 7 March 2013.
  21. 1 2 Tay, Rebecca (3 December 2015). "Bocci's Omer Arbel lights up new look Canada House". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  22. 1 2 "Bocci debuts cloud-shaped 73 glass pendant lights". 1 February 2015.
  23. "Bocci at the V&A for London Design Festival 2013". 13 September 2013.
  24. "RAIC announces recipient of 2015 Allied Arts Medal - RAIC - Architecture Canada". raic.org. 16 March 2015.
  25. "Salone Milan 2010 - Bocci @ Spazio Rossana Orlandi". 3 May 2010.
  26. "Bocci celebrates its 10th year in production". Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  27. 1 2 3 Magazine, Wallpaper* (23 December 2015). "Spheres of influence: a new base in Berlin gives design firm Bocci a chance to shine - Design - Wallpaper* Magazine".