The renowned Italian lighting manufacturer Flos has announced a significant expansion of its long-standing relationship with designer Michael Anastassiades. Under a newly forged agreement, the iconic Italian lighting company will take over the production and distribution of a carefully curated selection of designs originally developed under Anastassiades’ own eponymous independent brand. This strategic integration represents a major step forward for both entities, merging the distinct, minimalist craft-oriented identity of Anastassiades’ independent studio with the formidable global manufacturing, marketing, and distribution network of the prominent Italian firm.
The announcement marks a deepening of professional ties that first took root more than a decade ago. While Flos has not yet publicly identified the specific products destined to enter its official catalogue, nor provided a definitive timetable for the transition, the agreement establishes that the selected pieces will seamlessly continue their production lifecycle within the broader Flos ecosystem. Crucially, both companies have emphasized that the transition is carefully structured to safeguard the unique design language, integrity, and unmistakable aesthetic identity that has come to define Anastassiades’ independent collections, while simultaneously unlocking a broader international availability for admirers and specifiers worldwide.
Piero Gandini, Executive Chairman and Artistic Supervisor of the Flos B&B Italia Group, reflected on the evolution of the partnership, noting that the integration of the designer’s independent portfolio is a logical progression of their shared history. According to Gandini, the inclusion of Michael Anastassiades’ heritage collection in the Flos catalogue is the natural consequence of a collaboration that began more than ten years ago, building upon a foundation of mutual creative respect and commercial success.
Echoing this sentiment, Michael Anastassiades highlighted the personal and professional significance of the transition. The designer expressed that it feels like a completely natural progression that the pieces he has developed under his own name over the past twenty years will now continue their journey with Flos, a company that has long understood and championed his creative vision.
The partnership between Anastassiades and Flos traces its origins back to 2011, following a pivotal meeting between the designer and Piero Gandini. That initial encounter set the stage for a remarkably fruitful creative dialogue that quickly translated into groundbreaking commercial products. In 2013, the collaboration bore its first major fruits with the launch of the String Lights and IC Lights collections, both of which immediately captured international critical acclaim and established Anastassiades as a leading voice in contemporary lighting design.
The success of those early releases paved the way for a series of highly innovative subsequent collaborations. In 2015, the partnership introduced the Captain Flint luminaire, followed in 2018 by the striking Overlap suspension lamp, an ambitious piece that made sophisticated use of Flos’ proprietary Cocoon material. That same year also saw the debut of Arrangements, a modular decorative lighting system that offered architects and interior designers unprecedented flexibility in creating bespoke luminous sculptures. These enduring successes demonstrated an extraordinary synergy between Anastassiades’ rigorous geometric sensibilities and Flos’ mastery of advanced industrial manufacturing techniques.
Beyond his celebrated work with Flos, Michael Anastassiades’ wider creative practice spans an expansive multidisciplinary spectrum, encompassing lighting, furniture, everyday objects, and ambitious spatial design interventions. His overarching design philosophy is characterized by a profound commitment to combining sophisticated industrial production methods with refined, craft-based traditions. Every object he creates is imbued with a sense of permanence, reduction, and poetic simplicity, often utilizing materials such as brass, blown glass, and polished steel to explore the interplay between light, shadow, and physical space.
The newly announced arrangement effectively brings a significant portion of that independently developed body of work directly into the commercial portfolio of Flos. By integrating these heritage pieces into its established distribution channels, Flos will ensure that these independent creations reach an even wider global audience of design enthusiasts, collectors, and architectural professionals. At the same time, the agreement allows Anastassiades to streamline his operations, entrusting the rigorous demands of global manufacturing and logistics to a trusted, long-term partner, thereby freeing up space for future creative explorations.
As the transition moves forward, the design community will be watching closely to see which specific pieces from the designer’s independent archive are selected to join the main Flos catalogue. For now, the agreement stands as a testament to the enduring power of long-term creative partnerships in the contemporary design landscape, bridging the gap between independent studio craft and industrial manufacturing excellence under the banner of a shared commitment to timeless quality.
