Innovation and tradition: the forcola lamp by Carlo D'Urso
- 08 Jan, 2025
- Home , BeCreative
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An icon of Venetian tradition is illuminated thanks to Creative Cables.
Forcole are wooden objects rooted in the history of Venice. They are the rowlocks on which Venetian rowers rest their oars, using the loops and edges of the forcola as secondary levers to propel them through the water. They navigate the lagoon standing, looking ahead, one with their surroundings.
And it was while rowing that Carlo D'Urso, a young Venetian craftsman, came up with the idea of envisioning in different contexts that shape so iconic and familiar to him.
He studied industrial product design at the Polytechnic of Turin and it was here that he first came into contact with Creative Cables: the shop in Via Mazzini was fundamental to one of his university projects and years later he went back there, precisely to find a lighting solution for a project in which the forcola was the protagonist.
In fact, D'Urso is part of Reborn Shapes, a group of Venetian designers who proposed a series of projects linked to the Venetian territory by the shapes and materials recovered from the production processes of craftsmanship. In addition to the shape, he wanted to bring something more of the Venetian rowing culture and the craftsmanship that feeds this tradition. He therefore decided to incorporate two types of waste from two productions related to Venetian rowing into the structure: the excess walnut wood removed from the carving of the forcole and the coppermine shavings from the working of the oars.
The sculpture featuring the forcola is made of a transparent 3D-printed PLA and was presented together with the designers of Reborn Sharpes on the occasion of Venice Design Week 2024, when the city is animated by workshops and thematic routes. Visitors meet designers and artisans in their workshops, coming into direct contact with the reality of local craftsmanship, in a cultural context that is among the leaders of Made in Italy.
In this edition of VDW2024, the designs of the international designers were inspired by water reflections and the Venetian glassmaking tradition. What bulb could have complemented the lamp better than the Plumen002, a bulb that won the ELLE Decoration British Design Award in 2014, whose shape is inspired by that of a drop of water?
"It is so beautiful that it could be a sculpture" a friend with whom D'Urso goes out on a boat trip told him, holding a newly commissioned forcola in his hands. And the craftsman took him at his word, creating with Creative Cables components a work that brings together territorial culture and concern for sustainability.
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