Issey Miyake
The Artemide team was led, as ever, by Ernesto Gismondi. “I am extremely proud of this collaboration,” Gismondi says. “Issey Miyake devotes his extraordinary artistic commitment to a quest dedicated to men’s needs and existence. The same commitment you can see in The Human Light, Artemide’s mission and philosophy. We share Miyake’s values and visions”. The project revolves around a fabric derived from entirely recycled materials: a re-treated fibre made using PET bottles. The bottles are processed using an innovative technology that reduces both energy consumption and CO2 emissions up to 40% when compared to the production of new materials. Issey Miyake’s artistic vision, applied to the new 3D mathematical process, combines the Japanese tradition of light with Miyake’s ability to translate tradition into modernity. Artemide animates these sustainable and striking shapes using LED lighting, the poster-boy of sustainable lighting solutions. The IN-EI range – translating from the Japanese as “shadow, shadiness, nuance” – comprises a series of free-standing, table and hanging lights. Each lampshade is created using 2 or 3D mathematic principals, where light and shade harmoniously alternate. Miyake’s unique folding technology creates both statuesque forms as well as sufficient solidity. The structure of the recycled material, together with an additional surface treatment, allows these shades to keep their shape without the need for an internal frame, and to be re-shaped when needed. They can be easily stored flat when not in use. The innovative meaning of the “132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE” project lies in its numbers; 1 refers to the one-piece fabric used for each product; 2 comes from the 2D initial folding process; 3 refers to 3D; 5, preceded by an empty space, refers to the metamorphosis of turning folded shapes into clothing or objects. Five is also an auspicious number, and represents the desire for the clothing or objects to continue to assume new dimensions in the future. “When you see them, you can’t help feeling moved,” notes Gismondi. “When you understand them, you are full of wonder seeing a future we thought unreachable and couldn’t imagine this beautiful.”
