Magneto is a family of appealing lamps that combines essential design with functionality. Envisioned by Italian industrial designer Giulio Iacchetti for Italian brand Foscarini, Magneto consists of three simple elements: a support rod with a round base, a compact LED light source resembling to a microphone or an electric torch, and a magnetic sphere which connects the first two components.
In fact, the spherical magnet is the heart of these lamps’ design, hence the name of Magneto. This original idea makes the lamps very special as we haven’t seen before something similar. It looks like something magical happens and the light moves up and down as you wish thanks to the magnetic field of the magnet. Interesting, isn’t it?
The new table and reading lamp are designed without the features of a high-tech lamps, but their versatility and minimalism allows for a multitude of usages from reading to diffused lighting. The profile of the lamps houses a cable, thing that allows the movement in the diffuser, which doesn’t remain only at the top of the lamp, as it was first designed, but to be adjusted to the height we want. The possibility of extracting and reinserting the cable in the cleave means the lamp can be moved at different heights. This geometry that the cable assumes in a completely casual manner becomes part of the design, as well as the color which integrates perfectly with it.
The LED holder has an extremely simple, minimalist shape because the weight has to be reduced to the bare essentials so that all this could move and rotate round the magnetic sphere, but at the same time it had to be held, to be handled and directed as we please. They are lamps that produce a sharp, precise beam of light that can be directed down onto small areas. The first version of the lamp was the floor version, but by reducing the length of the stand, it resulted the second one-the table lamp. Magneto are made of ABS and painted steel, and comes in two colors: red and grey.
Photos © Foscarini