Sometimes it could be so simple: you have completed your project in the living room, did not have to attack the calculated buffer of the recessed floor spotlights and could actually continue right away in the outdoor area. Anyway, it would create a uniform image if the recessed spotlights from the living room were also to be found on the terrace. It certainly would! However, this is rarely a good idea. Because inside is not the same as outside and the type of installation should also be taken into account when choosing the right lamp.

Conditions in the driveway and garden are completely different. If it is warm and dry indoors, we can expect wetness and cold outdoors – depending on the season. This also means completely different challenges for the installed lamps. Challenges that you should take into account when selecting a light. However, if you consider the following five points, nothing will stand in the way of a successful lighting installation.

Rule 1 : Only install lamps made of rustproof material.

Exposure to moisture lurks everywhere outside, and not only in the rain or cold. Excessive humidity in the summer also takes its toll on the lamp body. It is therefore particularly important to use corrosion-resistant, i.e. rust-free material. Where the lamp is installed in the garden or terrace is irrelevant. Only use lamps made of stainless steel or aluminium, for example. You are also on the safe side with copper or brass and do not have to worry about complaints. Important: Screws or other composite material used should also meet these requirements.

Rule 2 : Look for lamps with a protection rating of at least IP44.

Water can damage the lamp not only from the outside. If moisture penetrates the inside of the lamp, it can not only cause a defect. It can also lead to life-threatening injuries – and not only for children playing nearby. That is why all lamps you install outdoors must have a protection rating of at least IP44. Then they will not be affected by splashing water, no matter which direction it comes from. Near a pond or pool, however, you should go straight for IP65. Outdoor Lights with this degree of protection are not even affected by water jets.

Rule 3 : Ensure a secure connection in the ground as well.

By choosing the right material and protection class, you are on the safe side, especially with regard to the appearance of the outdoor lamps. However, what is not immediately visible is almost more important: the right connection. Power cables and co. must also be protected from the weather. Moreover, not every cable is designed for installation in the ground. So make sure you use the right material here, too.

After all, it has the most important job: it supplies the installed lamps with the necessary electricity. It goes without saying that the connection of the lamps to the mains must also be watertight. This is the only way to protect yourself and your customers from short circuits and their undesirable side effects.

Recessed floor lamps pose special challenges in this respect. Very few like standing water. So never install them in depressions or recesses and make sure there is drainage below the recessed box. If the humidity is very high during installation, moisture can accumulate inside the lamp. It is therefore better to postpone the installation until the next dry day.

Rule 4 : Choose the right type of lamp for the different outdoor applications

We now know some basic characteristics that distinguish outdoor lights from their indoor counterparts. Now it’s time to put this knowledge to good use. In plain language, this means: choose the right outdoor lamps on the desired installation location. We are not only referring to the type of protection and material. The type of luminaire also plays a decisive role.

If the lamps are to be used as wayfinding systems, for example, the choice can be narrowed down to recessed ground spotlights, path luminaires and bollard lamps. Things become even more detailed when the recessed ground lights are installed in the driveway and thus have to withstand the weight of different vehicles. But wall lamps also serve a different purpose in the entrance area than perhaps on a terrace or balcony. So both functionality and appearance play essential roles here.

Take this into account in your planning and opt for sensor luminaires wherever there are pathways, for example.

Rule 5 : Create a unified lighting image with lamp designs that match the ambience

If different installation locations also require different lamp types, this does not necessarily mean that you have to do without a uniform light and luminaire image. SLV product families and series are characterised by the fact that a uniform luminaire design is reflected in different luminaire types. In this way, you get ceiling, wall and free-standing luminaires with the same look, thus creating a uniform lighting image. Above all, this creates calm in the eye of the beholder and a pleasant atmosphere.

In March, Tommaso Caldera will present his first creation, born of his collaboration with B—Line. His idea of maximum modular and aesthetic composability perfectly matches B—Line’s spirit, just as does the essential concept that distinguishes his work, brimming with versatility and rationality. Born in 1986, graduating in Industrial Design at Milan’s Politecnico, he numbers collaborations with the Odo Fioravanti studio in Milan and, subsequently, with the Jonathan Olivares studio in New York. Since 2012 he has been working as an Independent Designer from his own studio in Pavia, with his works being shown at the “Salone del Mobile” through the sector’s leading Italian and international companies. In 2013 he was selected by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York as Top Young Industrial Lights Designer and since 2016 has also been lecturing in Turin, Bologna and Milan. He defines it as a Singular Efficient Variable and it’s called AD.DA: what will his forthcoming design proposal be? During a recent interview, this was Tommaso Caldera’s recount of his meeting with B—Line and his approach to Design.

How did you get to know B—Line and how did the collaboration start?
The encounter with B—Line was one of those pleasing moments, beginning at a table, starting with a discussion on personal opinions and on one’s idea of this type of work. I met Giorgio Bordin during the 2019 “Salone del Mobile”. We didn’t immediately start talking about projects or briefs, it all just started over a coffee and some idle chat. It was only later, and after several meetings that Giorgio asked me to submit some proposals on a specific brief that the company needed at that moment. What is your interpretation of lighting design especially after this pandemic? What are your sources of “nourishment”? The hope is for all the relational dynamics that have taken shape in these recent months to fade as soon as possible. It is a work made up of encounters and confrontations between people, in which distance and the lack of programmability and future perspective not only “muffle” the process but distort it, introducing variables that are difficult to deal with and circumvent. Each single phase, developed within specific limits, then needs to open up to a “real” discussion between the parties, otherwise we will be moving towards impoverishment and sterility of the design process. The chief “nourishment” comes from research. Much of the work in the studio is dedicated to researching what has been done and what is being done in this field and in the adjacent disciplines, the goal being to always have a finger on “the pulse” of contemporaneity: personally, this type of knowledge and awareness allows for a freedom of movement that would otherwise be short-sighted and contracted.
What designer objects do you have in your office and/or home to which you are particularly attached?

My interest in Design started when I became attracted by the bond between people and objects of all kinds (from the most iconic to the most anonymous) and was driven by my personal attraction towards them. It’s therefore difficult to identify anything specific. The last object I look at before falling asleep is a Mayday by Flos designed by Konstantin Grcic for Flos, the first I look at on waking up is a 1960 Longines wristwatch with which I have a very personal bond. I would choose these two as representing the beginning and the conclusion of a day, in which each moment is linked to something specific.

Are there meetings/events/people or lighting brands that have profoundly marked your activity as a designer?

Meeting Odo Fioravanti, and the years in which I worked with him, are those that have marked the path for everything that ensued and that is happening now. He apprenticed me in his workshop, teaching me everything, and recognising, long before I did, when the time had come for me to leave his Studio.
It is a field in which Masters often continue to cast their shadows over the people they “developed”, even once their paths have separated, and in which their fear of losing their influence and position could lead to dynamics that prove dysfunctional to the sector’s growth.
My fortune in having met Odo and not someone else, can be compared to when a bus misses you by a few centimetres while you’re crossing the road, but you only realise this a few meters on, because you were engrossed in your own thoughts.

And a book on design that you would recommend to beginners as well?

“Molto difficile da dire” (“Very difficult to say”) by Ettore Sottsass for Adelphi.
Sottsass is the most heterogeneous, poetic and interesting personality we have ever had in Italy’s field of Design. This book collects a series of essays and thoughts that touch upon various aspects of Design, Architecture and the world of design in general. The risk of studying the masters, whether contemporary or from the past, is in trying to emulate their path, mimicking a method and an approach that are not their own. “Very difficult to say” does not re-propose a path, but poses a series of questions and tries to reflect on some topics, showing a complexity and richness of thought towards which anyone who is starting to do this work should strive.

Recently inaugurated in the hinterland of the Laguna, the new administrative premises of the company reflect the fine lines and the quality of materials which characterize the Vistosi brand. This is the place where industrial strategies and creative design meet.

This area, which covers 4,000 square meters, is divided into six departments:

• Acceptance and quality control of the glass and structures coming from our glass factory and our workshop;
• Storage of semi-finished products, that are controlled according to the strict procedures of the ISO 9001 quality system;
• Packaging, which is also carried out according to a standard procedure. All packages are individually tested and the most delicate are retried and certified by an external laboratory, acknowledged by the main carriers;
• Wiring department, where the most delicate electrical wirings – such as LEDs, fluorescence, gas-discharge lamps and all custom products, but also electric variants in accordance with the laws of the country of destination – are made;
• Storage of finished products, identified by special multilingual labels with graphical representation of the model and barcode for automated reading of the package;
• Shipping department, which organizes the picking of finished products from the warehouse, manages products assignments and organizes shipments worldwide.

In the last few years, in order to complement the production in the furnace, Vistosi created a workshop, where the metallic frames are manufactured. The presence of this department among the company’s assets allows a more flexible experimentation and creation of custom-made structures, such as the large suspension products like Giogali. Thanks to their equipment, the internal workshops allow taking care of the whole production process: from prototypes to quality control and wiring, always checking and certifying that each item works properly. All subcontractors are local, trustworthy and constantly checked over.

The Amisol project is about making a pendant light that occupies a large physical space with a minimal physical volume, for easy orientation in space. A translucent white fi lm or a metallized mirror membrane is stretched inside a circular aluminium profile. Like a solar sail, an incredibly powerful light source projects a beam of light onto the large, almost weightless disk, either diffusing or reflecting the light. Thin rods connect the two main elements together. By altering the length and the connecting points of the two supporting wires the rotation of the disk can be set in any angle.

A light point for easy directional orientation in space. The fluid movement of the jointed arms and the 360° rotation of the head make it possible to adjust the direction of the beam. Poised on a sturdy, stable base, Berenice adapts to any situation with versatility and precision. The many different models respond to a wide range of functional needs.

Berenice comes with a high-efficiency LED that provides an extraordinary quantity of energy-saving light.

The design language of Daniel Rybakken returns to its reliance on the intrinsic power of basic geometric forms, turning this time to the symbol of harmony par excellence: the circle. An extension of Luceplan lamps and lights Compendium family, Circle is a lamp with a poetic nature and an essential design, whose lightness is sustained by LED technology, installed to permit direct emission when pointed downward, or diffused light when aimed upward. It is also possible to combine up to three rings of different diameters to give rise to different configurations and luminous scenarios of great visual impact.