Italian lighting brand expands its vision for US capabilities with a new, state-of-the-art location for bespoke production and import operations
Flos, the Italian manufacturer of innovative high-end lighting, unveils a cutting-edge multi-purpose premises a mere six miles from Manhattan in New York City’s Bushwick, Brooklyn, the first of its kind for the global brand. The 44,000-square-foot space includes a dual warehouse for all imported items and a production facility for bespoke operations. It is a testament to Flos’s commitment to the US and Americas markets, propelling forward growth, creativity, and artistry.
“Flos Bespoke is responsible for realizing the greatest and most innovative lighting projects around the world. A division of limitless potential, Bespoke is global strategic initiative with a particular focus and investments in North and South America thanks to the opportunities made possible by the new Brooklyn facility,” says Matteo Luoni, Deputy CEO of Flos.
An investment in strengthening local collaboration with clients, architects, and lighting designers, while amplifying inspirational lighting collections from all divisions, the Bushwick location showcases the company’s full suite of capabilities, from in-house lighting design and engineering teams to expertly crafted manufacturing and high-end customer service.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to connect further with our treasured community of North American architects and designers”, says Cinzia Bernasconi, Managing Director, North America. “The entire Flos team is looking forward to working closely with our clients to realize all of the exciting, imaginative, and groundbreaking projects to come.”
This new facility has also allowed for major upgrades across Flos Bespoke, one of the company’s four divisions, with an emphasis on localizing operations and material sourcing. Bushwick is prioritizing US-made, locally-sourced materials and partnerships to support project needs including metal fabricators, an on-site paint shop, and on-site polish and custom finishing capabilities.
Streamlining quality control is another key point of focus for the bespoke US expansion, and the Bushwick space empowers the manufacturing and distribution of only the highest-caliber final products. Flos is able to test all custom products on-site with an engineering team that is involved in the full design process – from conception to completion. With higher ceilings than ever before, the design team and clients can handle and preview large scale projects in full before they’re installed onsite.
Flos is now able to create unimaginable bespoke lighting concepts. The brand has a reputation of taking on even the most complex projects with an uncompromising level of speed, quality, and customization, and is applying that to work all across the US. One of the most recent projects touched by this new facility was the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC) in downtown New York City. Tillotson Design Associates designed a beautiful concept for PAC’s façade lighting element, embodying architecture firm REX’s vision for the unique building while satisfying the exacting needs of the venue. Flos bespoke enabled them to bring this technically demanding, artistic design to fruition, crafting 80 specially-engineered vertical pendants, all with their own specific lenses and beam angles, which play an integral role in cultivating the duality of the center’s appearance, emerging as a solid, monolithic structure in daylight, while transforming into a translucent, luminous cube by night.
As a thoughtful partner in the bespoke design process, Flos, ensures everything from engineering to installation and beyond are as seamless as possible across all projects. Custom crates are built on-site for delivery (mostly or fully assembled in some cases), and the brand offers Bushwick-based, fully accessible technicians to help clients past the point of installation.
Flos’s holistic view of lighting and customer service has now come to life in New York City. The Brooklyn facility, located at 568 Meserole Street, joins the brand new Flos flagship showroom in Manhattan on the 2nd floor of 135 Madison Avenue, and the iconic Soho Flagship at 152 Greene Street, both of which are open to the public. For more information about Flos designs and capabilities, please visit https://professional.flos.com/en-US/us/bespoke.
About Flos
Founded in Merano, Italy in 1962, Flos is recognized as a leading international-level manufacturer of top-end designer lights and innovative lighting systems for residential, hospitality, and commercial projects. The company boasts an extensive catalog of iconic lamps created by legendary names in the history of design such as Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Tobia Scarpa, Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni, Marcel Wanders, Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison, Patricia Urquiola, Ron Gilad, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Michael Anastassiades, Vincent Van Duysen, Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby, Formafantasma, and many others.
In sixty years, Flos has grown significantly, showing a constant commitment to research and innovation in lighting, teamed with a remarkable capacity for identifying new creative talent. In 2015, Flos purchased Ares, a renowned Italian manufacturer of outdoor architectural lighting. The Outdoor division thus became the fourth production unit at Flos, alongside its historic Decorative, Architectural and Bespoke product lines. In the same year Flos also acquired NYC-based Lukas Lighting, a company specializing in the design, development, and manufacturing of sophisticated custom lighting products. This move gave a strong boost to the Flos growth in the North American contract market.
Today, Flos offers a universe of fully integrated solutions. It exports to more than 90 countries worldwide and has single-brand stores in Milan, Paris and New York, in addition to its e-commerce platform flos.com. Its creations have received countless international awards and many of them now feature in the permanent collections of major art and design museums around the world.
Flos is part of Flos B&B Italia Group, a leading global high-end design group operating a number of legacy brands in the world of luxury furnishings and lighting, with a European cultural heritage. Driven by a purpose of “We design for abeautiful life,” the Group designs for the planet, people and culture. The Group includes Flos, B&B Italia, Louis Poulsen, Maxalto, Arclinea, Azucena, FENDI Casa, Audo and Lumens.