“I wanted to have six three degrees of freedom instead of just three, yet still have a counterbalanced movement - completely free and with just the minimum friction to guarantee the stability of the positions adopted. So I designed six freely revolving joints that move through 360 degrees. There are no wires, the electrical connectors are hidden inside and I used hinges from laptop computers, something which I have been designing for the past 25 years”.
This is what Richard Sapper told Domus about his Halley, a project with which he returned to lamps in 2005, thirty years after a blockbuster such as the Tizio.

Once again in the German designer’s career, it was a concentration of technology and new behaviours to design for: Halley was conceived – even in its name – as a comet describing its orbits, it started by embracing LED technology, then in its early stages, and therefore integrated components such as a real radiator to cool the 16 lighting chips.

Today Halley, produced by Stilnovo, celebrates its 20th anniversary: the technology has evolved to the point where it has been possible to get rid of the radiator located in the “tail”, replacing it with a proximity dimmer that allows the light to be switched on and off by bringing the hand closer; but the multiplicity of movements underlying the concept remains the same, and that is what is celebrated in the new photo campaign by Mattia Balsamini, curated by art director Russo Sgarbossa.

Sidereal shades, lines and contrasts emphasizing the dialogue between light and darkness tell of an object that is a small space machine, transversal in adapting to all spaces of human life, whether for living or working, as its shape is born from pure gestural expression.