Flos

Flos is one of the defining names in Italian lighting, founded in 1962 in Merano and headquartered in Brescia since 1964. Its name is Latin for “flower,” chosen by Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, and its earliest catalog was shaped by two legendary partnerships — brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, and Afra and Tobia Scarpa — working alongside entrepreneur Sergio Gandini, whose family guided the company for decades. Today Flos is part of Design Holding, the design group that also includes B&B Italia and Louis Poulsen, and it produces both decorative collections for the home and architectural lighting systems for professional projects.

The Flos catalog contains some of the most recognizable lighting ever made. The Arco floor lamp of 1962, with its cantilevered stainless-steel arc rising from a block of Carrara marble, and the Taccia table lamp of the same year remain in production more than sixty years on. Parentesi, designed by Achille Castiglioni with Pio Manzù in 1971, won the Compasso d’Oro — Italian design’s highest award — in 1979, and Konstantin Grcic’s Mayday earned the same honor in 2001. Philippe Starck’s playful Miss Sissi, and Michael Anastassiades’ String Lights and IC Lights of 2014, carry the tradition forward within a designer roster that also includes Marc Newson, Jasper Morrison, Patricia Urquiola, Antonio Citterio, and Barber & Osgerby. Many Flos designs sit in the permanent collections of major museums, and the brand remains a fixture of both residential interiors and landmark hospitality projects worldwide.

BeDESIGN carries Flos lighting at our Houston showroom. Visit us at 2016 W Alabama St to see the collection in person — nothing conveys the presence of an Arco or the glow of a Taccia like standing beside one — or view the complete Flos collection in the virtual showroom below to browse the full range before you visit.