The addition of an iconic piece of furniture to a room brings the weight of tradition, as well as the balance and the beauty of great design to a room. There's no need to be too precious, either: layering them with lesser-known treasures bought at flea markets or affordable high street finds is a wonderful idea. It's a way of putting a personal spin on a famous piece and making it your own, adding an easter egg into a room that nods to past titans of the design world, while curating a new context in which it can continue to thrive. In this vein, we've previously taken a look back at the Anglepoise lamp and the Tulip table. This time, we're focusing on the Flos Arco lamp; designed in 1962 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the sweeping steel arch, perforated metallic shade and blocky Carrara marble base combine to form an instantly recognisable silhouette that can be seen everywhere from slick, glassy office receptions, to the sets of films like The Italian Job and Conclave, and of course in some very stylish houses.
Despite a shiny futurism to its design, the floor lamp works visually in both ultra-modern and, surprisingly, more traditional schemes, something we have mined our archives to outline below. This is probably partly due to the Arco's iconic status, partly because of how the lamp elegantly leads the eye around a room, and partly because as well as being deeply cool, it is incredibly practical, sitting somewhere between an overhead ceiling pendant and a reading lamp. It has led to countless reproductions and rip-offs, but you simply can't beat the original.
Below, we've curated a small selection of houses that play host to this bright star of the lighting world, as seen in House & Garden issues of the past that span a period of more than 50 years: proof that some pieces just don't go out of style, and are always worth investing in.
An icon of design in his own right, Terence Conran used an Arco in the sitting room of his country house in Berkshire, which was photographed by Lord Snowdon for an issue of House & Garden in 1984. The imposing lamp has been perfectly positioned by the wall so that the light is suspended above the sofa, and the stem forms an archway which can be walked under, almost forming another architectural feature in the room. Despite being photographed 40 years ago, the room has aged very well, due to its mélange of pieces from different eras, including a Habitat sofa and a Victorian daybed – the chunky 80s television notwithstanding.
Josephine Akvama Hoffmeyer placed the lamp in her petite flat in Copenhagen, to smart and elegant effect. Josephine says of the lamp, ‘in such a small living space it really helps to frame it’. The light can be swivelled and is height-adjustable, meaning it can go from illuminating the centre of the room one moment to a focused reading lamp the next.
The Arco lamp also holds its own in much larger spaces. Above, it stands proudly in the living area of a Georgian farmhouse, restored by architect Alison Brooks which was awarded RIBA House of the Year in 2021, and deftly meshes together history with sleek modernity. The same can be said of the contents within, where the shiny, arching lamp gets along well with the painted shields from New Guinea which hang above the log burner.
Photographed in 1971 for House & Garden, the home of the late football icon George Best contains a number of famous mid-century pieces, from an Eames lounge chair to a Saarinen Tulip table and chairs, while an Arco lamp dominates the pared back living area, drawing a line through the spare, whitewashed walls. As with the other rooms shown here, note the choice to avoid having any sort of ceiling light in tandem, instead relying solely on the power of the lamp to bring light to the area.
Jack Laver Brister's richly coloured, traditionally decorated house in Somerset, filled with 18th and 19th century antiques, is hardly the sort of place one might expect to find a piece of 1960s Italian space-age design. But in a spirit of true eclecticism, the lamp - and a Tulip table with which it pairs so perfectly - have been placed in the space, striking against the the earthy walls which have been painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘London Clay’. And these fish out of water create a surprising harmony in the room, showing the real breadth of styles where the Arco lamp can find a home. We look forward to seeing where its gracefully hunched form will pop up next.
