Hoba

Inspired by a meteorite that fell to Earth, Hoba translates the perfect imperfection of a handcrafted object into a lamp produced in series that is the physical representation of anti-geometry. A new expression of the many years of research conducted by Ludovica+Roberto Palomba with Foscarini to push experimentation on blown glass beyond traditional forms and methods. To describe Hoba, it’s necessary to employ the vocabulary of nature. In fact, Foscarini's new family of lamps, made of matt embossed blown glass, resembles a stone fallen to earth, deformed by speed and crystallized at the instant of flight. It is no coincidence that the new collection is named after the Hoba meteorite, the heaviest ever to hit the earth and that landed in Namibia, on the Hoba West farm.

Hoba has almost nothing left from the sphere which originated it: the glass is crushed in several points as if a hand had pressed it leaving a series of imprints. An effect resulting from the careful reflection by the two designers: "The form of Hoba is obtained when nothing remains from the sphere and its aseptic geometry. When it becomes an emptied object, volumetrically mistreated. It is not so easy to understand when to stop because when you work on irregularity you are not looking for proportions but for something difficult to define. Something you see and feel: an organic deformation that maintains a certain level of dynamism. Hoba is an anti-geometrical shape."