The latest addition to the FLOS catalog is the ″Tatou″ series by Patricia Urquiola. The designer drew inspiration from an antique Samurai (″warrior″ in Japanese) armor and takes its name from the french word for ′armadillo′. The design respresents resistance and strength along with lightness and dynamism.

This fusion of East and West is the first allusion to the lamp′s complexity, Urquiola explains. ″The idea at the beginning was to propose a modular system that worked with overlapping strips to reference the protective shell.″

The strucutre is built from 4 identical pieces that are interwoven to form a dome-like structure of a shade, with extraordinary craftmanship. The lamp diffuses direct light either upwards or downwards. The shade also allows light to pass through the weave, casting an intricate pattern on surrounding surfaces. The ″Tatou″ is available as floor, table or pendant lamps and comes in three finishes: white, black or grey.

The designer explains her choice of materials by pointing out that injection moulded methacrylate/polycarbonate is light and non-fragile, and it can be used for 3-D moulding in a way that allows for mass production. It is also a material that interacts with light and lends itself to different effects, depending on the proportions between its milkiness, opacity and colour. “We performed many tests to find the perfect final combination of these three components, and managed like this to give a polymer material a sense of preciousness. And we are planning to experiment with moulding using new bio polymers too.”

Tatou’s shell protects your eyes from annoying direct light, but at the same time it is slender and light. The component-based design and durable materials mean that the lamp can be disassembled and cleaned in the dishwasher!

designer: patricia urquiola
producer: flos
period: 2012