Castiglioni’s Toio

Achille Castiglioni brought an element of the surrealist ‘found object’ to furniture design. Already the designer of a stool based on a tractor seat, his Toio lamp was inspired by the unusual combination of a fishing rod with a car headlight.

Designed in 1962 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, to some this lamp is an ugly, crude, almost impolite object that stands over-confidently in the room, and to others (including myself) this lamp shows its true beauty by putting everything on show including the transformer which serves as a counterweight to stabilise the lamp.

The mechanics are entirely exposed as if you opened a car bonnet to peek inside, Achille Castiglioni designed a lamp using a special 300-watt car headlight imported from the United States during the Sixties.

Toio’s light source suggests the type of lighting, and the lamp components determine its shape. Thus a floor lamp providing indirect light was born from assembling ready-made industrial objects, modifying their functions and giving them new applications.

A metal structure on the base functions both as a handle and stem carrier and has a hexagonal chromed metal stem equipped with fishing rod loops to hold the external electrical leads; a fixing screw allows regulating the height of the stem; the remaining wire is rewound on two thin plates.

Designer: Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni
Manufacturer: Flos
Year: 1962
Price: £736 at Nest.co.uk