This past April, designer Thierry Dreyfus and Italian lighting company Flos unveiled Rupture at EUROLUCE 2011 in Milan. According to Dreyfus, Rupture is not a lamp but rather an Element of Light (as are all of his lighting creations). Dreyfus, who has specialized in set design for opera and fashion, is also a photographer—and all of these experiences have made him consider the beautiful nature and mysterious properties of light. As someone who “tells stories with light,” Dreyfus waxes poetic about the ineffable quality of electromagnetic radiation, describing what he does when he designs lighting: Dreyfus “turns this intangible skin into a form of inspiration and desire, a vibrant body that becomes a mirror onto which you can project yourself, a volume, a space on in its own right.”

Rupture. Designed by Thierry Dreyfus. Manufactured by Flos.

Lighting That Seeps Through Walls

Rupture is a lighting creation that defies categorization. While some might file it under sconce, this would be a gross simplification of a lighting statement that makes us question the very nature of reality. Rupture does exactly what its name implies: it is an organic strip of light that rends through the wall, appearing much like a river of magma rising to the earth’s surface during a volcanic eruption. Its disruptive nature also serves to disturb truth—what seems solid (a wall) gets stripped of its power as a clean edge that keeps out the elements. With Rupture, architecture gets questioned: if the idea of walls is to give a clean separation between inside and outside, then Rupture destroys that sense of safety, making the home a site of very interesting permeation.

Via Woont.

About the Manufacturer: Italian lighting firm Flos began in 1962 with the purpose of producing modern lighting. The company has been experimenting with the possibilities of light and its delivery since its inception. One of their first projects was playing with a material called Cocoon, which is extremely pliable. Flos has made its reputation by collaborating with talented designers around the world—a policy that continues to this day. Their “uncanny ability to spot emerging talent” has led them to work with some of the world’s most creative design minds: Philippe Starck, Konstantin Grcic, Marcello Ziliani, Marcel Wanders, Sebastian Wrong, Laurene Leon Boym, Piero Lissoni, Rodolfo Dordoni, Johanna Grawunder, and Patricia Urquiola. See their cutting edge lighting objects at any of their international showrooms: Rome, Milan, Paris, Hong Kong, Stockholm, London, and New York.