RONDE ETOILE By Foscarini

RONDE ETOILE is a pendant lamp whose structure features a single-level configuration.
At the center, serving as the support for the light modules, is a transparent Pyrex cylinder, visually almost imperceptible, especially when the chandelier is turned on. From it, thin cylinders branch out to support blown glass diffusers of varying sizes, arranged on three staggered levels in the Grande configuration, and in a radial pattern in the Ronde version, always playing with the interplay of solids and voids.
The cylinder also houses the electrical cables, left free to move, almost reinterpreting the concept of an arm in an extremely stylized and minimal form.
The glass sections vary across the different levels: on the upper and lower planes, they correspond to two-thirds of a cylinder, while at the intermediate level—which also defines the outermost profile of the volume—they take the shape of semi-circles.
The lighting module consists of a bulb and a blown frosted glass diffuser with a cylindrical cross-section. At the center of each diffuser, bulbs with a silvered front finish are fixed, directing the light toward the glass, allowing the frosted diffuser to absorb and gently redistribute it. The glass, therefore, does not merely shield the light, but becomes the protagonist, evoking a soft and enveloping glow, emitting indirect, diffused, atmospheric light.
For Etoile, two types of glass were used: for the central body, industrial Pyrex, chosen for its resistance and structural transparency, and the frosted blown glass, which gives a silky texture to the diffusers, evoking the Murano artisanal tradition.
Etoile is a collection consisting of two versions: Grande Etoile with a three-level configuration and Etoile Ronde with a single-level configuration.
In Etoile, the richness of traditional chandelier decorations gives way to a refined play of volumes, while the contrast between the transparency of the central cylindrical Pyrex body and the textured frosted glass diffusers—also built in a cylindrical shape—creates a fascinating balance of opposites: a chandelier that is both refined and imposing, light that is intense yet pleasant, an elegance that is understated yet extremely sophisticated.
The design began with the archetype of the Murano chandelier, reinterpreting it through subtraction.
It represents a perfect balance between the past and the present, between the lightness of Venetian glass and the sophisticated minimalism of 1950s and 1960s Milan.