Quick Lighting, an offshoot of Quick Spa, unveiled its new indoor and outdoor collection on the occasion of the 60th Salone del Mobile in Milan
by Claudia Giulia Ferrauto
In order to explore how this young manufacturing company operates, we spoke to Chiara Marzucco. Quick Lighting is a young company but is already well established on the market. Can you tell us how this challenge began? Quick Lighting is substantially a wonderful adventure. We were born as the offshoot of a leading company in the field of nautical, mechanical, electronic and hydraulic equipment for yachts and superyachts. In addition to this, we also produce lighting. Quick Spa was founded by my father and his former partner about 30 years ago. Then, five years ago, the opportunity arose and my brother Carlo and I decided to join the company by taking over the shares, and that’s how it all began.
«WE ARE EXTREMELY OPEN TO CUSTOMISATION. WE CAN CREATE A SPECIFIC PROJECT FOR EVERY SPACE. HOWEVER, NOT EVERY PRODUCT IS THEN INCLUDED IN THE CATALOGUE, STAYING AN ONE-OFF. WHEN WE DECIDE TO INCLUDE THEM IN OUR CATALOGUE, THE PRODUCT IS ENGINEERED IN THE PRE-SAMPLING STAGE FOR SERIES PRODUCTION».
CHIARA MARZUCCO
You were brave enough to jump into this challenge, but even braver to take the next step highlighting the brand. What led you to make this choice? As I mentioned, lighting had already been part of Quick Spa since 2008 and of Quick Lighting since 2012, but it had had a very subdued life. When I joined the company – partly because I really love lighting – I spotted new opportunities and decided to relaunch the brand, until it took on its own dimension last December.
How was this intuition transformed into a precise and concrete intent? As numbers and interest rose, we managed to establish several collaborations with important architects and light designers, and that’s when I said to myself: Either we do it now or we’ll risk falling into a dimension that won’t allow us to do it later. And that’s where we started!
The evidence proves you right, but how did you find your way in the beginning? Giovanni Marcianò, the sales manager, whom we started working with 2 years ago when the brand was relaunched, was a great help. Giovanni has a profound knowledge about lighting. Although I have a special sensitivity for this industry, he really has a strong sense of the market.
And this year you took part in the Fuorisalone of the Salone del Mobile, starting a new chapter. Which products did you present? The “Magritte” is definitely the brand’s newest entry, but actually all the projects we presented are no more than two years old, so it was really the first showcase for all our products. We attended the Fuorisalone with an event curated by Aldo Parisotto from the design firm of the same name. The main aim was to design a type of lighting conceived for nature, in nature, i.e. not a way to artificially light up the environment, but rather a type of lighting that could blend into its context and be integrated within it. The lighting fixture is not meant to take on a lead role, because the environment remains the protagonist. We selected just a few products well placed by the lighting design Fulvio Baldeschi from Light Company. Furthermore, we imagined and implemented a planning of the lighting to create a changing garden in which the light adapts to crepuscular variation, and as the afternoon and then the evening come, you begin to perceive a changing wind of light.
Quick Lighting is particularly focused on maintaining a kind of formal minimalism to the benefit of light, which remains the true and undisputed protagonist. So each project is recognisable thanks to its clean lines aimed at bringing out the light.
Even the lighting fixtures were integrated with the context, without yielding to the temptation of going solo… Yes, for example the outdoor set-up featured the “Brillo” lights, which have two different diffuser sizes as well as different beam heights, so that they can be 100% integrated according to the different situations of each garden. The idea was to create a suggestive atmosphere by making the lights look like fireflies.
A moment ago you mentioned a wind of light, what is that exactly? The wind of light is a project in which the light is not fixed, but is turned on and off, dimming its intensity according to the moment and the scenario, and this concerns the Brillo lamps, but also the Magritte and the Collebrezza. They also pulsate, but very slowly with such a gradual variation that the observer can hardly perceive the instants of this variation. And this creates an interesting atmosphere, especially when everything goes down in intensity, highlighting the depth of the outer spaces.
Magritte and Collebrezza
are both designed in collaboration with Studio 63. They are separate creations, but designed to fit into an integrated project.
We have talked about the spirit that drives your designs. But how is the company structured internally? We are a manufacturing company based in Ravenna. Within the group there is also a mechanical workshop with 30 control machines, which allows us to be very flexible and perform customisation. We have production, components, and finishes in-house. These characteristics allow the company to create true “Made in Italy” products, and this has been important especially in the last two years when the global scenario has been particularly critical. Our independence allowed us to face everything with a mindset and drive that we would not otherwise have had. We also design LED boards and have them custom-made to our specifications. Thanks to our 360° production, we pay close attention to everything by running our creations through very long and complex test cycles, precisely to make sure we have highly performing and safe products. Moreover, we are lucky enough to have had the example of an industrial reality in our past, the one my father created, which allows us to learn from that experience and avoid making certain mistakes.
An example? From the very beginning we were already structured in every function so that we could grow to accept as many jobs as possible. If we had started with just 10 people, we probably wouldn’t have managed to show at the Fuorisalone today.
THE COMPANY IN THE GROUP HAS A COVERED SURFACE AREA OF OVER 6,000 M2 AND COUNTS AROUND 300 EMPLOYEES. MORE THAN 20
OF THESE WORK FOR QUICK LIGHTING AND ARE SPLIT BETWEEN TECHNICAL, MECHANICAL AND ELECTRONIC DEPARTMENTS.
THEN THERE IS THE ADMINISTRATION, THE SALES DEPARTMENT,
AND A LIGHTING DESIGN OFFICE.
What distinguishes you from other companies? We are not only a company focused on products, but also on service. We have the ability to make products like the Magritte lamp in a production of 5,000 items, but our plus is the kind of service we offer both during production and as customer service. This is a distinctive element that strengthens our ties with customers and expands the network, because it increases the brand’s credibility and reliability.
Quick Lighting offers the design, engineering and customisation, combined with a totally made-in-Italy ability to develop the product from concept to production and after sales. The components that characterise the brand are style, aimed at giving light an advantage, without dominating shapes, combined with function, safety, and performance. Added to this there is a strong ability to listen and manage individual issues and requests. A very young company that is ready to race and is aware that to do so it needs to work harder than others in order to establish itself on the international market.
(Chiara Marzucco, Ouverture, una certa idea di luce – Barchemagazine.com – October 2022)
