foster + partners collaborates with artemide to launch IXA lamp in milan

diverse and dynamic: lighting by foster + partners

A high-powered LED lamp dubbed ‘IXA’ has been designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Italian lighting manufacturer Artemide, and has just launched at Milan Design Week 2022. The work marks the practice’s fourth partnership with Artemide, who are known for their human-centred approach to lighting design.

The IXA lamp takes shape with an ‘inherent dynamism’ which lends to a diverse range of lighting typologies — these include functions from task-focused lighting to decorative and ambient compositions. The design is said to have taken inspiration from the sculptural work of Alexander Calder, thus employing precision engineering to interpret the idea of ‘elegant balance.’

The full Artemide collection which debuted at Milan Design Week 2022 included designs by BIG, Foster+Partners, Michele De Lucchi, Mario Cucinella, and Herzog & de Meuron, among others — see designboom’s coverage here.

images courtesy Foster + Partners

a versatile design for artemide

Illustrating the versatility of the design, Foster + Partners (see here) creates its Artemide IXA lamp in table, floor and wall configurations. The first phase of the collection offers an opaque, 100-millimeter sphere, for focused settings, in four unique colorways: charcoal, slip, crane and ink.

Mike Holland, Head of Industrial Design, Foster + Partners, comments: ‘IXA has evolved through an intuitive design and making process. Slight variations in applied weight and movement have informed the lamp’s dynamic design. IXA provides a flexible, highly personalised lighting experience.’

The floor and wall configurations of the Foster + Partners lamp for Artemide (see here) include a spherical head which is counterbalanced by a spherical weight at the opposing end of a slender stem. The head is connected to the stem through a magnetic socket that allows tactile rotation to any orientation, while the jack-connections at each junction allow for further flexibility. The second phase of the collection will include a larger translucent sphere for more ambient lighting configurations.

Carlotta de Bevilacqua, President and CEO of Artemide, continues: ‘The IXA lamp is a timeless product, with a refined beauty, that is the result of a measured design and manufacturing process. IXA’s elegant balance gives everyone the opportunity to be the author of their own personal lighting scenario.’