SUGO was founded by the team of husband and wife, Kevin Chu and Giulia DiBonaventura in 2018. Both the founding members being serious nature lovers, their sole mission of creating SUGO was to design products that actively help in healing and improving the planet. All of their design or fusions of biophilic ideas, nature and advanced sustainable technologies.
SUGO has design studios in Italy and Hong Kong, and though it has only been a couple of years, the company has achieved numerous international awards and is considered as one of the most innovative firms in the world by the World Design Consortium in Italy. Each product of theirs is either artistic or sculptural and is handcrafted with passion, ensuring each piece has its uniqueness.
Here is a list of all the phenomenal products SUGO has created till date:
1. Foglia | SUGO
The concept for FOGLIA (leaf in Italian) was born when founder Kevin, in central Thailand, witnessed surreal colour transformations of a banana plant under different light conditions. From that vivid experience, and inspired by the geometry of a leaf, FOGLIA was designed as an illumination sculpture with air purification screens, and after 7 years of work, it came to life in 2018.
FOGLIA has the world’s first magnetic interchangeable acrylic screen system designed by SUGO’s Italian research laboratory, making it have utmost customization ability. FOGLIA is SUGO’S first design created and the most unique in their collection. FOGLIA is available in 3 editions: Carta, Filo Rosso and Libuella.
2. Fly
SUGO conceived FLY with a prenotion that it needs to be an alternative to lightings that are designed on the limitations of being static and functional. FLY achieved this by being an embodiment of human yearnings to soar. Not only does it fulfil lighting and air purification requirements with the wings, but it changes the environment of a space from static to dynamic.
Being a modular system, it can be a single entity or one can add on to it, making it represent anything that defies gravity whether it be a flock of birds or paper airplanes.
3. Foglia Libellula
Foglia Libuella is one of SUGO’s limited edition pieces. Libuella is inspired by the structure of a dragonfly’s wing with each screen laser engraved with intricate and non-repetitive geometry. This edition of SUGO’s air purifiers brings nature’s art into your room, wherever placed.
4. Rain
Water is an indispensable element for all living things on this planet. Along with the ability to rejuvenate and heal, it has the ability to bring a certain ambience. Whether it is the sounds of droplets, ripples, or streams, a balancing sense of both chaos and serenity is brought. SUGO wished to bring just the ambience that raindrops give to your room, and with the creation of RAIN, SUGO did just as such.
These lightings consist of CNC machined metal droplets of ambient and downlights, encased in silicon moulded discs, making the user raise their eyes to see artistic ripples. Like FLY, RAIN is a modular system and can be installed as a cluster or a single piece.
5. Cloudi | SUGO
A cloud looks different to every other person. It has no definite shape and is constantly metamorphosing. This is what the founding members of SUGO observed while sunbathing on a beach and looking up at the sky to see clouds periodically providing shade.
After taking inspiration from what they saw, CLOUDI was born. These light installations were created as an optical illusion using perforated metal panels overlapping on each other sandwiching an LED light tube. That way, whenever you move around it, CLOUDI seems to transform. These panels can also purify the air. SUGO considers that CLOUDI and RAIN lamps can together create an art installation.
6. Metropolis
Creating ‘METROPOLIS’ involved taking inspiration from the dynamic city of Hong Kong where one of the founders of SUGO, Kevin, was born. With multiple acrylic air purification ‘building’ screens that can be rearranged, it can represent and reflect on the dynamics and energy of any city or cityscape on the globe. The buildings were designed in abstract shapes with slanted lines to mimic 3-dimensional perspectives of structures.
“GUILIN” and “METROPOLIS” were created to leave creativity in the hands of the user. Both lampscapes share the same stainless-steel base that allows you to make unique lampscapes of mountains or buildings. METROPOLIS is available with opaque screens and in a limited edition with smokescreens.
7. Guilin
This lampscape is the namesake of the marvellous mountainous region in China, known as Guilin. GUILIN consists of laser slice acrylic ‘hills’ (panels) of various textures that can be placed into the grooves of a steel base embedded with LED lighting. When placed and switched on, the acrylic hills become a glowing mountain lampscape, absorbing illumination into its laser pantograph lines.
The panels can purify the air and are interchangeable, therefore letting the user create numerous compositions as unique as themselves and as transformable as nature.
8. Hutong
Hutong refers to the narrow streets and traditional architecture of Beijing, reminding one of the times with scanty industrialization and abundant bicycles. The number of hutongs, however, has unfortunately decreased a great amount in recent years due to modernization. Recognizing this and bringing nostalgia for these charming structures and streets, SUGO created the design of HUTONG. Based on the master plan of San Miao Jie Hutong in Beijing, the design consists of a 3D metal matrix printed structure.
Placed in this matrix are 37 pure crystals representing the unique traditional dwellings of a hutong. These crystals can be replaced freely by the user, altering the illumination index of the piece and this product is entirely customizable with different colours and heights.
9. Omino
The OMINO lamps are lamps that accompany you in a space however inanimate or sculpturous they may be. SUGO began the design process for this piece with the intent to create something that evokes motion and emotion, just like the constant behaviour of human beings. Adding on some playfulness, OMINO was born, with glowing air purification glass heads that represent the human mind.
With the use of tubular steel bent into humanoid shapes of movement, the lamps symbolize humans in everyday activities.
10. Luna | SUGO
The moon, our beautiful celestial neighbour greets us in a different form every night. Its saluting presence has the ability to influence our tides and affect our biodiversity. Along with that it also has the ability to grant us senses of serenity and romance. LUNA (moon in Italian) is an embodiment of the moon’s ethereal beauty. LUNA consists of a circular acrylic disc laminated with rice paper, placed on a single axis allowing it to rotate.
Supporting steel frames were created in various shapes with the same geometry to adapt to the user’s requirement, like a pedestal, desk or ceiling version. The frame holding the rotatable disc with a single static light source has the ability to recreate the moon cycle from eclipse to full moon and fulfils SUGO’s wish to illuminate and bring tranquillity to you in your space.
References:
I am SUGO. SUGO. [online]. Available at: https://www.iamsugo.com/ [Accessed date: 21/06/2021].
Design Boom. SUGO from Hong Kong. [online]. Available at: https://www.designboom.com/shop/store/httpswww-kickstarter-comprojectssugog-u-i-l-i-n/ [Accessed date: 21/06/2021].
