The Model 600 lamp and Bottega Veneta grew up under the same Italian sun. Their story begins in 1966: Venetian designer Gino Sarfatti birthed the malleable Model 600 amidst the maze of canals, while a little more west, in the architecturally wondrous city of Vicenza, two budding designers with an inclination towards intricate leather conceived the now globally recognized house of Bottega Veneta. Both entities matched each other in their manipulation of material, constructing intricately supple, nonetheless durable, organs of Italian luxury. Like Bottega’s earliest bag designsーsvelte weaves and smooth leatherーthe Model 600 introduced a novel form of pliability in modern furniture (modern at the time) as a tasteful rebuttal to the classically austere conventions prevailing the interior design world. Sarfatti softened the lamp’s parts to sculpt a stalwart whole. 

Nearly 60 years later, Flos, a leading manufacturer of high-end designer lights and lighting systems, and Bottega Veneta have come together to reinterpret the Model 600, resurrecting Bottega’s founding principles in the process. The special edition lamp, available in small and large versions, boasts a leather base woven in the House’s signature Intrecciato and Intreccio Foulard (recognizable as the pattern of the Jodie bag perched on everyone’s arms right now). The fixture, equipped with the latest LED technology, emits a soft, relaxing light and comes in five bold colorways: black, gray, red, emerald green and signature Bottega Veneta green.

Appropriately, the Model 600 lamp can be placed just about anywhere, its location as malleable as its form. The floor is just as fitting as the table, and the windowsill just as suitable as the top shelf. The piece’s angled reflector can be positioned to emit direct or indirect light, and the pillowy base yields to its user’s arrangements.  

From its conception, Bottega established itself as a brand devoted to the discreet doctrine of silent luxury. If their logoless bags weren’t enough of an indication, their sloganー“When your own initials are enough”ーleft no doubt; the brand would refrain from stamping its logo on each piece, relying on their distinct Intrecciato to signal its presence instead. The delicate braids now adorn each iteration of the Model 600, an experimentation of form in its own right. 

Gino Sarfatti, born in Venice in 1912, grew to be one of Italy’s most celebrated luminaries (quite literally), designing more than 600 pieces and revolutionizing traditional typologies of light construction. Prone to manipulate form and material in abnormal ways, Sarfatti experimented with the available technology to create artifacts of modern design steadfast in renouncing traditional home models. His lamps would undulate and bend, twisting into gravity-defying knots and tilting towards precarious positions. 

Similarly to Bottega Veneta’s founders, Sarfatti found an inherent magnetism in his birthplace and often intertwined his work with the historical fabric of the region. His pieces have been featured in large-scale installations such as Genoa’s Palazzo Bianco (the 16th century palace constructed for the notorious Grimaldi family) and Turin’s Teatro Regio (one of the oldest opera houses dating back to 1740). From his earliest designs, Sarfatti reveled in the synthesis of contemporary and classic, frequently forging connections between the heirlooms of antiquity and the furnishings of mod lifestyles. 

The special edition lamp, born out of Flos and Bottega Veneta’s partnership, is further evidence of the ways in which past and present can converge into one cohesive form. Manipulations of time, as malleable as the leather wrapped around the fixture’s base, inform the collaboration’s commitments to techniques and textures rooted in each brand’s ancestry. And if that isn’t dazzling enough, you can now match your lamp with your bag. Enough said. 

The Model 600 Lamp is currently available at Bottega Veneta and Flos.