The Illuminated Eye: Zava’s Ociu

Ociu, giant pendant lamp. Designed by Franco Zavarise. Manufactured by Zava.

Meaning “eye” or “pay attention” in Venetian dialect, Ociu by Zava is a giant pendant lamp, measuring over 72 inches in diameter and 31 inches in height. [via Freshome]

Zava’s flagship product, or “name-card” as they call it, the Ociu is crafted from methacrylate and includes a white glass diffuser — something absolutely necessary in a hanging light this size. Otherwise, you might feel as if you’re a miniature figurine trapped under a gigantic heating lamp — which is decidedly not the case here. The Ociu is “Huge! Impressive!” as Zava describes it, but it is this immensity that lends the lamp an otherworldly charm. The simple shape and clean texture make the lamp inviting; it creates a cocoon effect, wherein people can nestle beneath the Ociu’s protection.

Franco Zavarise designed the great light. He is the creator of Zava, the head of the company—we might call him the overseeing eye (wink, wink). His Ociu seems to hang from a thread, about to tumble down into your living room at any moment. However, the methacrylate’s light weight allows the immense lamp to suspend safely. It is the threat of doom hanging over us, I would argue, that makes the Ociu pleasing. With the Ociu in our living room, we have a sense of overcoming the laws of physics, of turning the entire universe upside down. This power of subversion is similar in the O’Clock.

In gleaming all-white or the darker black, which comes with a gold or silver interior, the Ociu is theatrical, though Zava reminds us that it is meant to be “fun,” to “enlighten smiles.” Like Miami Beach’s Delano Hotel, which uses grandiose sweeping yards of fabric in its lobby—curtains that seem to stretch for a few floors directly into the firmament—the Ociu’s size transforms rooms into transformative experiences. Use the Ociu in a high-ceilinged office hallway, as it will work especially well in transitional spaces. Or put one smack in the middle of a dinning room, where it will draw guests into a sensual experience that goes beyond food. Zava explains the Ociu’s influence: “it has gone across Italy to enlighten, now, all the foreign European and Extra European Countries.” Bring it into your design and watch your world expand.

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