From Tehran to Como with a Vespa!
When an Italian nostalgic brand inspires an Iranian designer to design.
One of the intentions as a designer is bringing back life to the things that had a social role in our lifestyle. We are living with many things that consumerism changes their priority for us and gave them a lifetime.
Automobiles and motorcycles have a big part in our lives.
We spend significant time with them and they have a specified lifetime.
By reconsidering their serving purpose, as they lit up our way home, now a motorcycle can light up our home.
Vespa created when Italy was clamouring for a comeback and by its first public show in 1946 in a Golf club in Rome, each decade Vespa won hearts of a sub-culture. In the 60s it represents mod sub-culture, in the 70s and 80s it was seen in many frames at the peak of feminist activities.
In a background research they have found a sentence “Chi Vespa mangia le mele”; who rides a Vespa eats apples. This sentence, a reference to the forbidden tree in biblical scriptures, was part of Vespa’s advertising campaign in the 70s. Here eating an apple is a metaphorical indication of doing away with societal conventions and it’s ensuing chains: Man was tempted, ate an apple, and was expelled from the Garden of Eden. Eating an apple is taboo, thus Vespa can only be for those who are willing to test the limits of freedom. Vespa bikes were for all those who wanted to break the boundaries of the system and liberate themselves from the captivity of rules towards evermore freedom.
50 years ago in Iran, it was an iconic ride for a carpet seller, and today the new ones became expensive and represents a prosperous class.
Vespa’s identity could effect on your clothes and your behaviour and also the brand has evolved into a lifestyle which allows riders to travel in colour and fun. It all reminds that Vespa is always more than a motorcycle.
It is not the first time that Vespa inspires creative minds and artists to create novel ideas.
From 1953 it has a special role in William Wyler’s movie
“Roman Holiday”, to show a joyful moment for a princess in Rome, up to 2021 Enrico Casarosa Directed an animated movie named “Luca”. The story is about a Sea monster child Luca Paguro who is living with his family in the sea, near the Italian town of Portorosso, and his friend Alberto. Luca and Alberto decide to become human and all they want is a Vespa motorcycle to travel around the world. However, the audience faces many concepts during the movie but the emotional core of the story is a Vespa which is building friendships and rebuilding relations.
The name comes from a Greek ancient god but the structure tells us another story. The Hypnoss floor lamp consists of two parts with two different natures which wonderfully form a unique concept together. A steering wheel of an old Vespa motorcycle contains a lamp in front of it as the head and a wooden adjustable tripod that holds the lamp stable on the ground as the body. The head of Hypnoss plays two crucial roles simultaneously; the function that we expect from a floor lamp and a very much more important role which is creating a narrative atmosphere by taking advantage of the sense of nostalgia that Vespa has already created as an Italian brand for more than 70 years. Hypnoss is cleverly surfing on the wave of the Vespa lovers’ loyalty so it is predictable that it can provide a reliable market in Europe.
The steering wheels are selected from scarp motorcycles so they need to refurbish it and try to save its memory. The main part that called “Vespa’s DNA” and the odometer as its beating heart that became alive again and selected to represent its identity and its memory. The centeric part which is inspired by the outlines of the original Vespa steering shaft, made by CNC milling method to connect the iconic part with a wooden tripod.
You can turn it on by its original light switch and by using its clutch and brake handle you can find yourself in the rider’s position but in the living room.
The Hypnoss floor lamp is limited to 22 different colors. It comes with a storybook and an identity card that contains photos and illustrations of its relationship with us to introduce itself to the new owner.
As happy life is the most important face of Vespa, they think that Hypnoss can bring an identity and an enchanting color to every places.
Parhame
2022
