Funiculí floor lamp by Lluís Porqueras for Marset

Funiculí is a new edition of a lamp designed in 1979 by Lluís Porqueras.

The name Funiculí comes from the concept of a “funicular” action—moving up and down. The mechanism for raising and lowering the lamp uses a pair of clips which make it very easy to change the height of the shade to meet the user’s needs. The shade itself can be rotated through 360º to point the beam of light wherever it is required.

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Porqueras has always sought an absolute simplicity in his designs, doing away with everything superfluous to leave the essence of the useful, simple object. 30 years on, the Funiculí lamp remains highly contemporary, both in its purist forms and in its features.

The base of Funiculí is covered in rubber on the bottom, avoiding the cold contact between the metal and the floor and adding stability to the lamp.

Porqueras himself recognises that he began designing without really knowing what industrial design was all about. After studying architecture and renovating a few country houses, in 1956 he set up Stoa, the first Catalan design studio which created lighting by Enric Franch amongst other things.

Together with Jaume Vaquero, he established Vapor in 1979. The company manufactured warm, simple lamps, going against the technological trendiness of the times.

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“I made very simple things, even though the manufacturing process involved 25 separate operations, the end result was simplicity itself; all I wanted to do was to pare away, to pare away and to pare away until I reached the pure essence of a simple, useful object!

“In time, I have come to realise that I have been a very bad businessman. Luckily, Marset showed an interest in what we were doing in Vapor and the major part of our catalogue now forms part of their collection

“Thinking about it, I have always believed that the light in a room must also go with shadow, that there should be contrasts with the points of light. This is what creates well-being, calm; your home must be a refuge from the aggressive outdoors in the city. Lights are lit for several hours a day, and the rest of the time they must maintain a certain discretion so that they do not bother you when they are off, and only become noticeable when they are on… like glow worms. Fashion does not interest me, and I have never made fashionable lights because they soon go out of fashion. I have always made lamps I liked.”

Lluís Porqueras

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Daniel

Having worked in design for the past decade, Daniel started ateliertally.com as a discussion of timeless, modernist product design. Trained as a graphic designer, he also has an avid interest in typography. You can follow him on Twitter @ateliertally.

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