Italian architects, Paola Traversa and Eugenio Gargiono, unveil sparkling minimalism with the LED Panama Lamp.
Architects Paola Traversa and Eugenio Gargioni from Euga Design in Italy have released the latest minimalist creation to highlight the trend towards fusing utilitarian architecture and lighting design. Designed for Italian manufacturer Omikron Design, the young design duo embraced Omikron’s commitment to producing thoughtful industrial design with high-performance lighting technology. The result is the birth of the luminous LED Panama series, which offers a strikingly thin and non-invasive lampshade that appears to rest on a slender aluminium stem.
Entitled Panama, the lamp’s slender body terminates at the centre of the cylindrical diffuser. It’s alien-like appearance is one that gently disperses light from a strip of diffused Light Emitting Diodes (LED) beneath the smooth lampshade, offering 50,000 hours of reading light.
The simplicity of Euga Design’s industrial designs have been greatly admired in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The Panama Series was presented in Omikron Design’s 2011 Collection at the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair as well as the DMY Berlin Festival, and lays testimony to Omikron’s preference for pragmatism, rigour and restrain from decorative excess.
“We are optimistic about it!” says Traversa and Gargioni in describing the public’s response to the Panama Lamp. “In particular, the Panama Lamp was a success with regards to sales. We are happy because we’ve spent one year and a half working together with the manufacturer to develop the product.” The Panama, they say, was inspired by the popularity of the Flint Lamp that they created for Martinelli Luce, another minimalist LED reading lamp.
The work of Euga Design joins the production of many of Europe’s most recognised designers who have contributed to the Omikron Design collection, including Jonathan Maltz, Andrea Branzi, Roberto Menghi, Piero Castiglioni, Carlo Forcolini, Nanni Holen and Vico Magistretti, who designed the first lamp in 1946. Underpinned by Omikron Design’s ethos of producing timeless objects that enhance illuminated spaces, the new Panama Series can be found at Mondo Luce in October 2011.
