AURALIS unveils lighting brand trio: Penta, Castaldi and Arredoluce

Italian group AURALIS presents the future of lighting with the “first integrated industrial center in the field of lighting” comprising three of Italy’s most iconic lighting brands.

“Everything stems from light; with light, humans modulate time and transform space,” says Andrea Citterio, the CEO and founder of AURALIS, a leading integrated industrial hub in the field of lighting. The name AURALIS stems from combining contractions of the words aurora and borealis, embracing the concept of a new beginning. “It defines the future of the entire lighting sector,” he adds. 

The new group controls the companies Penta, which specialises in contemporary design, Castaldi, offering technical-architectural indoor and outdoor systems, and Arredoluce, which focuses on redesigning the works of great masters such as Gio Ponti, Castiglioni and Angelo Lelii.

Andrea Citterio acquired the Italian lighting brand Penta in 2015. In 2018, he added the Arredoluce brand before completing the trio with Castaldi in 2020. Today, the hub, now named AURALIS, continues on an upward trajectory with a consolidated turnover of around 20 million euros and joining ELITE, the private market of Borsa Italiana, now a part of the Euronext Group. Its aim is to be listed on the Italian Stock Exchange within the next three years.

In addition to its headquarters in Meda, AURALIS has operational sites in Varese and in the Veneto region, which specialise in the production of outdoor lighting systems. The retail network extends to 95 countries, also through the branches in New York and Singapore and the offices in London and Germany.

“While hugely driven by technological innovation, we continuously seek to enhance the aesthetics of our collections and to promote the culture of light as a means of improving quality of life,” explains Andrea Citterio, who since founding the company has made a conscious effort to invest in start-ups operating in the fields of the Internet of things (IoT), smart cities and smart buildings. Moreover, it has laid down a sustainability plan regarding issues such as packaging, the use of electric vehicles, and a gradual transition towards the use of renewable energy sources to power its premises.

Such an open, versatile system is reflected in the tagline ‘Limitless Lighting’, which AURALIS uses to communicate the brand’s corporate identity. Under the parent company, Penta, Castaldi and Arredoluce enjoy the synergistic grouping of Research & Development and of their Technical Office—a strategy intended to blue boundaries and do away with limitations. Still, all three remain independent companies, each with its own distinct identity…

Penta – The contemporary one

With a particular focus on emerging trends and designers, Penta works with a cohort of up and coming talent to produce contemporary, one-of-a-kind designs. This dedication to the future is complemented by constant regard for the past—after all, it brings with it over forty years of experience (the brand was founded in 1975). 

Since then, Penta has made a name for itself championing elegance, warmth and functionality in all their products like the iconic Glo series by Carlo Colombo and the MOM collection signed by Umberto Asnago. Whether it’s super-prime residential lighting or bespoke solutions for the luxury marine sector, Penta always draws from the art of master craftsmen, experimenting with cutting-edge technology to enrich its aesthetic codes.

Castaldi – The technical one

Castaldi is a merger of “Ing. Castaldi Illuminazione” and “Norlight”, two well-established companies with some 80 years in the lighting industry and an impressive portfolio of top designers including Piero Castiglioni, Claudio Bellini and Alfonso Femia. Castaldi’s signature products can be found in prestigious locations all over the world: at the Ferrari World Park in Abu Dhabi, in Zaha Hadid’s City Life residences in Milan, and the Atelier Renault Champs-Elysées in Paris, to name just a few.

Ceaseless attention to design and technology are the unfailing strength of the brand, thanks to a fully integrated production system and the in-house, product control and testing laboratories. Numerous Castaldi Lighting products have become icons, on display in some of the most important Design Museums in the world.

Penta collaborator Valerio Sommella Studio described simplicity as the ultimate sophistication. DesignWanted interviewed him about his trajectory as a creative mind behind lighting, furniture and everyday objects.

Arredoluce – The romantic one

Founded by Angelo Lelii in 1943, at the dawn of a golden era in modernist Italian design, the brand is responsible for some iconic designs—the Castiglioni brothers’ Turbino table lamp of 1951, for example, is a remarkably early example of minimalist design. The company also produced several of Gio Ponti’s experimental pieces in Lucite in the 1950s and Sottsass’s UFO table lamp of 1957. 

Lelii continued producing hundreds of artful lamp designs right up to his death in 1979, after which the company closed. Today, after forty years, Arredoluce is born again inside AURALIS. With an archive decorated by masters so great, it’s no wonder Arredoluce’s focus today is finding ways to revise and redesign its most-cherished pieces. 

Covering all bases, the new lighting hub prides itself in providing architects and light designers with 360-degree lighting solutions, working side by side with clients to create lighting that meets the needs of today, is inspired by the past, and looks ahead to the future. “With these three companies, the Group can satisfy every lighting requirement, from technical indoor or outdoor solutions to projects for the residential and contract furniture sectors, contemporary designer collections, and great lighting classics,” concludes Citterio.

Find out more about the newest trends and newcomers in lighting design with our highlights of the winners from the LIT Lighting Design Awards 2021.