Whistle by Lucie Koldova for Brokis
For the Maison & Objet fair, Brokis presents Whistle, a new pendant light by Lucie Koldova. Whistle is a new, very contemporary story in the playful sensuality of the glassblower. Whistle is one of the nickname glassblowers give to the cane they use to blow glass. A rustic and solid tool that Lucie Koldova hollows out, revealing the full transparency of its interior with which she invents a hybrid form filled with the energy from the blowing and the light. Whistle is a simple luminous stroke, wrapped in a diaphanous shade embracing its vertical drop revealing it in its best light.
The result is an equally technical and fun looking system, the skeletal electrics of which are highlighted by an essential and efficient choice of colours like the range of an offset printer. The seemingly simple implementation belies the expertise of Brokis for this entirely handmade series produced with industrial precision. The Czech producer will be present at the forthcoming Euroluce this April with a series of innovative items for the home as well as the contract market.
Brokis was founded in 2006 immediately creating a niche amongst contemporary firms by offering minimalistic lights that are exclusively glass, with transparent and innovative designs leading the way with the iconic table lamp Muffin (now over 2,000 sold per year). A single bulb, placed on a wooden base, like an explosion encapsulated in a disproportionate spherical glass cover later to become one of the hallmarks of the young Czech designer Lucie Koldova now artistic director of the brand. Initially a response to the 2008 crisis, it was paramount to reposition the expertise of Bohemian glassblowers in an ultra contemporary country where the players are not in such large numbers. Brokis as in broki, a Latino slang term used in New York by young people to hail each other, the equivalent of bro in black communities. A fruit of the double Czech and Puerto Rican origin of the founder, Jan Rabell, broki is also a term that refers to a small decorative glass piece amongst Bohemian glassblowers.
In four years, Brokis became a leading brand in contemporary lighting, blowing its products in the same factory as Flos, Artemide, Foscarini and Louis Poulsen in the Czech countryside 150 km from Prague. Unique expertise bordering industry and crafts, each Brokis piece passes between the hands of 25 people. Pieces comprise 3 successive layers of glass, the ultra-transparency of which imposes an inevitable quality control, as faults are made visible by the design. With 9 ovens and 72 people, the Brokis production site is currently undergoing expansion, devising products to recycle the glass offcuts dismissed by the principal line that were previously discarded.
Next April, the brand will unveil its first collection devoted to the contract market in Euroluce. An outdoor line is on the cards to extend the range and turn the start-up into a veritable all-round lighting company capable of taking the limelight.
Lucie Koldova (born 1983) is a prominent designer based in Prague and Paris. Her work, ever pure and charismatic, focuses on furniture, glass sculptures, timeless lighting collections, and objects of desire; her portfolio ranges from daily-use products, poetic gallery objects, and limited series pieces to conceptual design. Currently, Lucie Koldova is the Art Director of Brokis since 2013.
Whistle by Lucie Koldova for Brokis
Small : h 400, w 300
Price: 625 €
Medium : h 550, w 380
Price: 795 €
GLASS
- crystal transparent or smoke grey
SPOTLIGHT COLORS
White, black, grey, magenta, menthol, yellow