Bocci – Lovely lights, an interesting bench and a better socket

Bocci call themselves eclectic and we are not going to argue. They do, indeed produce some lovely lights, an interesting sofa and something that really caught my eye, a beautifully simple electrical wall socket. That may seem like a strange thing to get excited about but look around and you’ll understand. Can you really describe those ubiquitous lumps pf plastic as anything other than unloved and unlovely? I’m going to make you wait for the sockets. First I want to establish the aesthetic sensibilities of the people who produce them.

It’s no secret that Modenus loves a good light. We also love wallpaper. Bocci don’t produce wallpaper but they do produce the very elegant ’14′ pendant light shown above. On its own it is simple and almost stark. Clustered together it becomes spectacular. The lights are cast glass globes with a frosted void which can contain either a  halogen/xenon or  LED  lamp.  The lights glow, the imperfections on the cast glass creating shades and patterns. Bocci describe it as being like ‘tiny candles floating in enclosed spheres of water’, which is very lyrical and the sort of thing we wish we had thought of saying.

The ’28′, described by Bocci as a ‘distant cousin’ of 14, is designed by Omer Arbel.  It is produced by blowing and sucking air into hot, then cold, class. That produces all sorts of distortions which are most evident when the lights are clustered together. The impact is both glamorous and dream like.

We did mention an interesting bench. Your standard upholstery construction is basically frame, foam, fabric. Simple. Well Bocci have opted to leave out the foam and pile on the fabric. They call the result ’25′. You can probably spot a trend here. Wonder if you can guess what the plug socket is going to be called. The vast amount of fabric on the 25 Bench is left to fold and shape itself according to how it is used. I can’t remember which English politician was described as always barring the impression of the last person who sat on him but maybe he inspired this bench. Is it comfortable? Would you spend eternity wanting to iron it into place? We don’t know, but it is interesting.

And I love this. The ’22′ is a whole series of electrical sockets, dimmer switches, speaker cable sockets, phone connections and more. They fit flush to the wall with no visible back plate and are a whole lot less ugly than the traditional alternative. In fact, they are rather neat, so much so that it is a shame to actually plug anything into them.  Is it just me or do they look like surprised little faces, maybe somewhat alarmed by the appliance heading their way? OK, it is just me. If you want to know the techy details you are going to have to head over to the Bocci web site. I’m just going to enjoy their apparent simplicity, a simplicity which can only be achieved through a great deal of thought and ingenuity.