Twiggy by Foscarini: a new personality for an ever-evolving design

Delicate and poetic, iconic but straight-forward, natural and high-tech, Twiggy is one of those objects that fascinate design lovers because of their multifaceted character. 

The addition of two very elegant, classic tones to its palette – Burgundy color and Rosewood essence –now further strengthens the already rich spectrum of personalities of the Foscarini lamp, a best-seller since 2006.

The Twiggy never-ending story

The inspiration for designing a variation of the arc lamp that would convey a different feel from the Castiglioni’s version came to Marc Sadler after observing the structure of a fishing rod.

Inspired by its shape and structural qualities, Sadler and the Foscarini team thus came up with the characteristic Twiggy super slim stem that curves harmoniously, swings and bends like a reef in the wind, attached to the floor through a flat, circular base. Making the whole thing look almost wrong from a gravity perspective. The visual weights, basically, do not seem suitable to achieve the desired balance. Yet it works. How?

The eureka moment

The genius idea was to couple an extra light stem with a stronger, more solid base, without adding visual weight to the latter. 

For the stem, several linear sections of reinforced glass fiber were put together and made to slide into each other to get a visually unique item. When disassembled, the linear sections of the stem take up very little space; when assembled they become an essential, long and thin line in space that holds the diffuser made of glass fabric and pigmented with resin with a moiré effect.

For the base, the design team decided to use carbon fiber, a composite that, despite its thin surface, can hold a lot of weight. The structural strength of the carbon fiber also allows the volume of the lamp to be offset: the stem moves delicately as you touch it, almost defeating the law of gravity, and it brings the ambient light that exits from its top and bottom of the large cylindric diffuser all over the room. 

Furthermore, the height of the stem and of the diffuser can be adjusted without introducing complicated (and heavier) systems: it works using counterweights which, inserted in a special seat above the diffuser, allow the inclination to be adjusted at five-centimeter intervals. 

Smart design choices and artisanal expertise

Drawing ideas from the world of sport and (extreme) performance is quite usual for Marc Sadler, who has worked extensively on sport equipment, leveraging materials knowledge, engineering technologies and industrial design.

But turning the idea into an actual product was the result of a long research carried out by Marc Sadler with Foscarini and with some boutique Italian artisans who were challenged to evolve their trade outside their comfort zone. On this and other craft-related collaborations, Foscarini has created a book available here.

An instant classic for dynamic interiors

Twiggy’s success has been overwhelming making it an instant classic. 

On one hand, because the lamp solved an actual problem for interior designers: having a light in the center of a room without using the ceiling. 

On the other because the savvy use of materials made it possible to obtain an extremely flexible and slightly off-scale object that, alone, can furnish a room in style. 

Twiggy’s success turned a single product into a family, with floor and table versions being immediately added to the collection, and an oversized and outdoors options following soon after.

The Twiggy palette also underwent continuous developments: red for pop, young and dynamic homes, where the lamp would be used as a centerpiece; greige black for more restful, silent spaces; white and black for optically styled areas and, lately, an oak finish for a warmer touch. A dynamic lamp for classic interiors.

The new Twiggy variants: Burgundy and Rosewood

A quiet but characteristic presence, Twiggy Burgundy is a modern classic. 

Contemporary and sophisticated, the new Burgundy color is a perfect fit for interiors that make the eye to modern vintage atmosphere, or those that wish for design pieces to merge with the setting and stand out only when observed.

The Rosewood essence expands the Wood range already addressed with the Oak version. Yet, in comparison to the latter, it adds a darker, very warm shade, enhanced by the natural grain of rosewood.

Tapping into the Twiggy tradition of a never-ending research on new colors, materials, finishes and functions, the two new versions add a note of elegance and warmth to the collection and widen the personality range of this iconic lamp that has made flexibility and versatility its hallmark.