lightprose by saazs

SAAZS opens its SHOW ROOM

2008-05-28T02:49:00.001-07:00

EXPERIENCE AN EXCLUSIVE RECEPTION TO GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE UNIVERSE OF THE SAAZS BRAND OF PRODUCTS.

In the back of a typical courtyard in old Paris, discover the white-clad, ultramodern setting of the Saazs showroom. This is where ideas are given shape. Look closely and you might find prototypes just out of the studio or snapshots of the forthcoming collection.

Many events take place there all year long, with installations from creators promoted by SAAZS to celebrate events such as the Designer's Days in June, or Maison & Objets fairs in September and January.

Adress : 152 rue Saint-Honoré - 75001 PARIS / 2nd courtyard to the right.

Subway Station : Louvre-Rivoli (Line 1)

Opened Hours :

Monday - Friday, from 10am to 7pm

Saturday : by appointment only.

ARIK LEVY solo exhibition in the Wright Gallery of Chicago

2008-05-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

'Nature versus technology', the lightpiece designed by Arik Levy for SAAZS institute, is presented during his first big solo exhibition in USA : 'Absent Nature'.

28 April-01 may 2008

Wright gallery

www.wright20.com

MILANO LAUNCH PARTY 08

2008-05-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

SAAZS LAUNCH PARTY / APRIL 17th 2008

Centre culturel français de Milan

PALAZZO DELLE STELLINE / MILAN

Some pictures

LIGHT PROSE EXHIBITION 1 / Milan 08

2008-05-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

LIGHT PROSE EXHIBITION 1, from April 16th to 21st 2008

(pictures of the installation located in the 'centre culturel français de Milan')

BALAFON / design Adrien Gardère

2008-05-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

Adrien Gardère has designed a lightpiece called 'balafon' for SAAZS institute.

size (cm):

Limited edition of 8ex. + 2 E.A + 2 prototypes

photo : Morgane Le Gall

Interview of Adrien Gardère about his work with SAAZS institute :

How important is light in your creations ?

Huge - essential even, whether in the field of light fixture design or of space and museology in particular.

What is the name of this lighpiece ?

Balafon.

What is your creative starting point for this piece, what is it all about ?

The starting point is the plate itself, its format and its serigraphed light patterns. They're what inspired ythe project - their 'calabash' format, their logic, their reason for existing. PErhaps this piece is about an encounter between a 2-dimensional drawing (the serigraphed plate), volume and functiunality - an encounter prompted by light.

As a creator, what does this material/light bring to you ?

A reflection on light as a material, with one precise drawing as a starting point. AN almost organic material, quite like nutrient broth, animated by a strange vibration.

What was your reaction when you first saw this light ? ANd now that you have worked with it ?

Same answer to both : a living organism, 'mounted' so to speak in a set volume of glass to play with.

How would you qualify this new light in a few words ?

A luminous, living organism.

What would you say is most characteristic of lightpieces published by SAAZS or SAAZS institute ?

Objects where light transcends its typical functionality to become a material in its own right - organic matter.

Why did you agree to work for SAAZS, a very young publishing house - how did that collaboration come to be ?

Quite simply, through my encounter with Tomas Erel.

Light prose exhibition / Milano, APril 2008

NATURE VERSUS TECHNOLOGY / design Arik Levy

2008-05-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

Arik Levy has realised a light piece called 'Nature

Versus Technology' for SAAZS institute.

size (cm) :

Limited edition of 8 ex. + 2 E.A. + 2 prototypes

Photo : Morgane Le Gall

Interview of Arik Levy about his work with SAAZS

How important is Light in your creations ?

Light = Emotion.

What is the name of this lightpiece ?

Nature versus technology.

What is the creative starting point for this piece, what is it all about ?

Contrast.

As a creator, what does this new material/light bring to you ?

Like every innovation, a new dimension is open.

What was your reaction when you first saw this light ? And now that you have worked with it ?

It is actually the light as material that I am interested in.

How would you qualify this new light in one or a few words ?

Thin.

What does light represent today ?

Important.

Why did you agree to work for SAAZS, a very young publishing house - how did that collaboration with SAAZS come to be ?

I love innovation and it gives me the opportunity to have new experiences.

Light prose exhibition 1 / Milano, April 2008

FLYING DOTS / design Christian Biecher

2008-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Christian Biecher has realised for SAAZS institute a light piece called Flying dots.

size (cm) : L.120 / l.30 / h.138

limited edition : 8ex. + 2 E.A + 2 prototypes

Photo : Morgane Le Gall

Interview of Christian Biecher about his work with SAAZS :

How important is light in your creations ?

Crucial. Whether natural or artificial, light is the the first thing that guides my thoughts when I

design a place or an object. Of all the elements in my work, light has the strongest evocative power; I choose materials and colours depending on how it affects them.

What is the name of this lightpiece ?

Flying dots - as I see it, it is a micro architecture defined by light stains.

What is your creative starting point for this piece, what is it all about ?

The basic concept was to create 'flying' light spots, then apply them to functional furniture such as shelf.

As a creator, what does this new material/light bring to you ?

Apart from the beautiful, surreal quality it can produce, I like the idea of having light shine in an unexpected place, in an unexpected manner. This piece is an invitation to lose yourself in contemplation. As soon as you slip a magazine inside or lay a few books on it, words and images light up and bring you back to life.

What was your reaction when you first saw this light ? And now that you have worked with it ?

It is very graphic, very surprising. You would expect it to be a simple light marking, but it has a more powerful glow and a warmer colour.

How would you qualify this new light in one or a few words ?

Graphic.

What does light represent today ?

God, obviously.

What would you say is most characteristics of lightpieces published by SAAZS or SAAZS institute ?

They are obects that intimately combine technology and poetry.

Why did you agree to work for SAAZS, a very young publishing house - how did that collaboration come to be ?

I was, and still am, motivated by the qualities of the projects and of the people behind them.

Light prose exhibition 1 / Milano, april 2008

SAAZS institute

2008-05-20T08:19:00.001-07:00

SAAZS has created SAAZS institute to explore unthought-of universes through contributions from world-class designers, artists and architects.

The purpose is to push the limits of matter even further. A place of formal and poetic experimentations producing design manifestos, unique pieces and limited series.

The first exhibition Light prose took place in 2008 during the Milano design week, with exclusive lightpieces by 3 designers / architects : Christian Biecher, Adrien Gardère and Arik Levy.

Flying Dots / a lightpiece by Christian Biecher

(photos Morgane Le Gall)

nature versus technology / a lightpiece by Arik Levy

(photos Morgane Le Gall)

Balafon / a lightpiece by Adrien Gardère

(photos Morgane Le Gall)

FLAQ / design Tomas Erel

2008-05-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

photo : Éric traoré, stylisme : Pascal Humbert

Flaq is a tale of pure light, water and refection. Of that particular night-time moment, right after the rain has stopped, when water forms tiny lakes reflcting the stars and lights of the city.

Flaq is a romantic lightpiece, a kind of natural event, a simple, magical invitation to reverie.

Flaq is a floor lightpiece made up of a reinforced black metal case containing a S011 or S012 lamp and a bakelit kick panel supporting a sheet of polished stainless steel.

size (cm) : L.80-165 / l.80-90 / h.125

LIGHTBIRD / design Tomas Erel

2008-05-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

LightBird evokes a bird that landed for a few moments' rest, illuminating us in the process. Its velvet like texture, pure light and soft warmth make LightBird a naturally soothing creature - 'a ' pet-object' that feels like it might purr under your touch.

LightBird is a floor lightpiece that can be used as a table.

LightBird is made of joined 0.1" (3mm) steel sheets and integrates one S012 lamp. Gloss varnish is applied by aerospace engineering specialists, guaranteeing excellent durability and a beautiful velvet-like finish. The black version also features crystal varnish to ensure extra protection against scratching.

Size (cm) : L.160 / l.100 / h.30

WALLOVER / design Tomas Erel

2008-05-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

"EVERY WALL TELLS A STORY"

Wallover pieces are large picture-like objects, abstract or narrative surfaces that light up their environement and embellish any objects you lay directly on their light.

Wallover is a lightpiece for dreaming as much as for living.

Wallover is a wallpiece that can be used as a console supporting up to 44lbs (20kg). It features a reinforced black metal case containing a S011 or S012 lamp and a white or black gloss Bakelit kick panel, or a sheet of polished or brushed stainless steel.

Other size or finishing are possible on demand.

LIGHTPIECES

2008-05-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

When light becomes a living material !

Through its first collections, SAAZS offers a new approach towards creation - simple and poetic objects that place man at the heart of a unique experiment with light.

Radiating a pure form of light, Saazs' lightpieces are unique objects destined to people ready to live an extraordinary experience on a daily basis.

INTERVIEW

2008-05-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Interview of Tomas Erel, SAAZS artistic director

What does SAAZS mean ?

"Saazs offers objects with a new typological classification, a universe of feelings to discover and share. We designed our brand the same way we designed our creations. The name SAAZS is simple yet sophisticated, delicate and also sensual."

What do SAAZS products have in particular ?

"Saazs products are objects with simple and rather sensual presence. Living with a lightpiece does not just mean possessing a fine object but also redefining your daily life with a unique experience. Style and design are part of it but become completely incidental as soon as the lightpiece illuminates - illuminates you. I see fine objects everyday, but this experience, the feeling you get around a Saazs object - this is something no other product will ever give you. As Robert Morris used to say, " Simplicity of shape does not necessarily equate with simplicity of experience". This is very much applicable to Saazs."

Is the phrase "light fixture" still relevant ?

"In a sense, lightpieces do light up the same way as light fixtures.

We could say that LightBird is both a table on which you can rest your drink and a lamp that lights up your living-room. Those are all acceptable appelations that refer to what our creations look like at the first sight. Practically, though, I should be saying "This is not a table". We go beyond shape-based design - our goal is to act upon the way the object is used.

Light is complitely different, pure, direct and generous. According to your mood, you can gaze at it, stroke it, feel it on your face. You are in direct relationship with it. This feeling goes way beyond the functionnal identity of light fixtures, which always interpolate a filter between you and the light.

So Yes, you might say that LightBird is a table, that Wallover is a console-light, that Flaq is a column light. All those definitions are correct, but we prefer to call them lightpieces - pieces that radiate light, pieces that are light."

Speaking of which - what does light have in particular ? What is this technology ?

To keep it simple, you could say it's a new glass with light emitting patterns.

The question is, what does this technology bring me, as a human being, a creator, a user ?. This is what prompted our long years of development along with Saint-Gobain Innovations."

What makes the technology used in SAAZS products revolutionary, then ?

"There haven't been that many major innovations in the field of lighting, perhaps 3 or 4 ever since the light bulb was invented. Each of them fortuitously influenced our lifestyle and the development of our world, but they all focused heavily on technical issues such as increasing light output or lifetime, saving energy etc,. That all changed when LEDs appeared a few years ago - suddenly everyone started talking about colours, experiences, feelings, which was already a revolution in its own right.

In that respect, Saazs' technology is an essential innovation that breaks free from all existing technologies. It is a soothing light, that you can touch without getting burned, contemplate without getting blind, a light we can interact with directly and safely. This completely redefines the very notion of light fixture.

This technology required 6 years of work and patience to attain this new intimacy between man and light.

Saazs' lightpieces celebrate this new relationship with simplicity and poetry."

Do your products qualify as "high-tech" ?

"Does "high-tech" add anything to anything ? No it doesn't. Is a 'high-tech' product any better that a 'non-high-tech' one ? Not necessarily.

Just like the term 'light fixture', 'high-tech' can be used to describe our products. Saazs publishes technological objects that herald a new way of implementing light within our living spaces. However I would'nt want that aspect to prevail over the experience they bring. Saazs has a privilege and the responsability to materialize this new technology and and offer objects that bring progress, comfort and emotion into your living spaces. I prefer to say that Saazs Lightpieces are poetic living objects."

Are Saazs products rare and who are they meant for ?

"The manufacturing process for our Lightpieces is very complex, with very strict specifications that they must comply with. Each lamp requires hours of carefull assembly with vast amounts of testing to follow. To deliver all the emotion our Lightpieces have to offer, we are very demanding in terms of quality and development.

Practically, this year we will be publishing maybe 400 to 500 pieces per country - that is a very small quantity... By definition, Lightpieces are therefore rare objects that will published in very limited series or pre-series.

Our creations are directed towards interior architects, decorators and interior design enthusiasts who want to explore with us all the emotion that living, soothing light-matter can bring to our living quarters.

Our approach is also directed towards collectors. Through 'SAAZS institute', we publish limited, numbered series signed by world-class designers. Through their own visions and creativity, they bring an essential contribution to our reflections and grant us exceptionnal objects."

HIGH TECHNOLOGY

2008-05-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

An exclusive technology

Co-developed during more than 6 years by SAAZS and Saint-Gobain Innovations, the Planilum technology offers technical specifications that make it the first light-emitting material.

An active glass with light emitting patterns, Planilum is an unprecedented technological innovation based on years of know-how, dozens of patents and hundred of rigorous tests.

A unique, environment-friendly material

A mere 0.8" (20mm) thick, Planilum is a complex 4-layered special glass containing a rare gas and serigraphed phosphors.

CE & ROHS certified (new environmental directive), and with a 100W power consumption, this material boasts exceptionnal durability with over 50.000h lifetime - approximately twenty years' normal usage. Each lamp is manufactured with extreme care on a dedicated production line in order to warrant exceptional lighting quality and reliability.

A pure, soothing light

Contrary to all lighting technologies in existence, light does not radiate from a light bulb or a distinct light source, but from the material itself - thus redefining our relationship towards light :

- The intensity of light is distributed over the entire surface of the material, on both sides. The light is non-dazzling.

- With a temperature close to that of the human body, light can now be touched. No filter or protection (lampshade, diffuser, etc,) is required. Light becomes pure and soothing.

- Planilum glass is resisting and structural. Light becomes an architectural material.

- Light is "painted" deep inside the glass. Light becomes a creative graphic.

With the planilum technology, SAAZS offers you unique objects that radiate pure, warming light in your quarters to make you live a totally new experience.

SAAZS universe

2008-05-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

EXCLUSIVE CREATIONS

REVERIE THROUGH TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

LIGHTING, FURNISHING AND INTERIOR DESIGN REDEFINED

SAAZS offers a choice of furnishing where light becomes a living material.

Saazs' creations establish a dialogue between the ethereal and the functional, breathing pure emotion into our relationship with the objects and architectures of our living spaces.

Saazs inaugurates a new source of light that breaks free from the usual typological classifications of light fixtures. Co-developed with Saint-Gobain innovations, this new technology called Planilum creates pure, living, soothing light matter. Light is our material.

SAAZS imagine dream-like products where technology and functionality matter less than the object's emotional impact.

Through exclusive object, pre-series and limited editions, Saazs explores new environments and new relationships with the objects aound us.

Saazs invites you to dive into a world where light becomes a living material, a new experience that redefines your daily life.

EDITO

2008-05-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

Photo : Éric Traoré / Stylisme : Pascal Humbert

Essential, fascinating and mysterious, artificial light has gradually turned from its simple 'victor over light' status as the first bulb was invented in 1882 to a sublimating vector of our universe, both unique and part of our daily life.

Its successive (r)evolutions have made it more compact, more flexible, infinitely more open to creative uses. It has become a material that artists and designers can shape to create emotions. However, just like sunlight, artificial light has until today kept some form of power over man, split between attraction towards this vital force and the danger of its burning, dazzling rays.

In the light of this third millenium, after 10 years of research, planilum - a technology co-developed by SAAZS and Saint-Gobain innovations - redefines our relationship with light from the ground up, by suppressing the very reasons for our past fears.

Pure, graphic and sensual, light becomes a soothing element that lets you touch it, look at it - it becomes a living material.

With the Light prose project, SAAZS celebrates this new form of intimacy with light through groundbreaking objects, emblems of this new reality, this new experience that will redefine your daily life.

THE STORY OF SAAZS

2008-05-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

A STORY OF RESEARCH AND CREATION

Saazs dates back to 2001, when a creator and a manufacturer met over a major innovation in the universe of light.

Convinced that they had a revolutianary material at their disposal, Tomas Erel, Laurent Hay and Philippe Moyen decided to create Saazs - a publishing house based on a common concept that places man at the heart of a unique experiment with light.

In September 2007, after over 6 years' development (see pictures), the first certified two lamps with light-emitting patterns were created and the first objetcs were produced.

In spring 2008, Saazs opened its Parisian show-room with a collection of three lightpieces, and launch with the first exhibition called Light prose by SAAZS, during the design week in Milan with exceptional pieces by Christian Biecher, Adrien Gardère and Arik Levy.