Work: Falkland
Design object
Original
- Space
- Design
- Designer
- Bruno Munari
- Company
- Danese
- Date
- 1964
- Period
- 20th Century
- Production
- currently in production
- Dimensions
- 165 cm high, 40 cm diameter
- Material
- metal rings, woven fabric
- Section
- living
- Awards
- Bruno Munari has won the Compasso d'Oro 3 times, including a Lifetime Achievement award at the 17th Awards Ceremony in 1994
Photo: Maurizio Bolognini. Museo Tattile Statale Omero Archive.
Description
“A lamp designed to be sold by the metre, but take up the least possible space. An apt description of Bruno Munari’s Falkland, which was inspired by the paper lanterns seen by the master of creativity on his trip to Japan.” — Chiara Alessi
Produced by Danese since 1964, the Falkland pendant lamp stands 165 cm high and masterfully embodies Munari’s core design philosophy: simplicity, logistical efficiency, minimal packaging volume, and maximum formal impact.
The lamp’s striking vertical silhouette is dictated entirely by the physics of tension between two contrasting materials: a flexible tube of white Filanca—an elasticized, tubular knit traditionally used in hosiery—and a series of rigid aluminum hoops slotted horizontally inside the fabric.
This specific iteration features seven rings of varying diameters (ranging from 20 to 40 cm) positioned at alternating intervals, all suspended from a metal top fixture housing the light source to emit a soft, diffused glow that beautifully evokes the atmosphere of traditional Japanese paper lanterns.
Gravity itself handles the assembly; when released from its remarkably compact box and suspended, the downward weight of the rings stretches the elastic knit, causing the fabric to flare outward over the hoops and contract sharply in the negative spaces between them to naturally form its iconic, sinuous waves. While current production also includes two smaller variations at 85 cm and 53 cm with fewer rings, the design’s unexpected moniker serves as a permanent tribute to the Falkland Islands, a South Atlantic archipelago renowned for its fishing industry, as Munari’s ingenious concept of shaping tubular fabric with internal hoops was directly inspired by the mesh creels used by locals for trapping lobster and crab.
“It is easy to complicate, it is difficult to simplify. To complicate just add, everything you like: colours, shapes, actions, decorations, characters, environments full of things. Anyone can make things complicated. Few can simplify.” — Bruno Munari
Luce Falkland – duration 1:02
Sonic evocation of the object created by Paolo Ferrario
More info: Falkland on the Danese site