Nilufar presents LUMIAC inside its historic venue on Via della Spiga, a chandelier designed by Andrea Mancuso, accompanied by a spatial installation developed in collaboration with Kriskadecor, the Spanish company renowned for transforming aluminium chains into versatile architectural and expressive surfaces.
The lighting project explores the relationship between human beings and machines, between organic gesture and artificial thought. Like a mechanical mind, LUMIAC comes to life, generating a choreography of light and movement that challenges the notion of design as static and definitive. The name LUMIAC, an acronym for Light Unit Mechanized Intelligence Apparatus Computer, deliberately echoes MANIAC, one of the earliest autonomous computers developed in the 1950s. By referencing this pioneering machine, the project situates itself within the origins of computational thinking, translating early electronic logic into a contemporary luminous organism.
Conceived as a kinetic entity, LUMIAC reinterprets the traditional chandelier as a dynamic structure in constant transformation. The cast aluminum framework recalls human anatomy, with articulated arms extending from a central core like bones from a spine. Motors integrated within the core control the movement, while blown glass spheres emit a delicate light. A remote control synchronizes both motion and dimming, allowing light and structure to respond together. In this way, LUMIAC exists in time, where technology becomes an expressive presence and illumination becomes behaviour.
The installation surrounding the chandelier further enhances this sense of discovery. Two superimposed curtains made of Kriskadecor’s aluminium chains form a delicate cocoon around the piece, enhancing its presence without competing with its sculptural character. Acting as light spatial dividers, the curtains create a sense of intimacy, inviting visitors to approach the chandelier gradually.
The outer layer, finished in a deep coffee tone, defines the perimeter of the installation and provides a warm architectural backdrop. Inside, a second curtain in amethyst introduces a more luminous and expressive note. Towards the base, the amethyst chains feature an irregular gradient that interacts with the outer layer, producing subtle chromatic transitions as the two surfaces overlap.
Rather than enclosing the object, the curtains create a fluid boundary that guides movement and perception. Reflections, overlapping colours and shifting transparencies enrich the visual depth of the installation, amplifying the dialogue between Mancuso’s chandelier and the surrounding space.
Through this layered composition, the installation transforms the act of viewing into a moment of discovery, where light, colour and materiality converge to frame the chandelier with elegance and subtlety.
“Design, for me, is a journey that bridges imagination and reality, where each project becomes a dialogue between the material and the immaterial, the historical and the contemporary.” Andrea Mancuso
