Glo-Ball Suspension 1

Jasper Morrison designed the Glo-Ball series for Flos in 1998 with a single, disciplined ambition: to render light as atmosphere rather than spectacle. The Suspension 1 is the smallest hanging form in the family, a near-perfect sphere of hand-blown, externally acid-etched opaline glass that dissolves the source of illumination entirely into a soft, even glow.

The glass is flashed opaline, a layered technique that gives the globe its characteristic depth and warmth. Acid etching on the exterior surface further diffuses the light, eliminating any harsh point of brightness. A transparent polycarbonate support holds the diffuser from within, while the ceiling rose is formed from fibreglass-reinforced polyamide and a pressed, galvanised fitting. The steel suspension cable completes a composition where every material decision serves the same restraint.

Morrison's Super Normal philosophy holds that the most resolved objects are those that recede into daily life without demanding attention. The Glo-Ball Suspension does exactly that, and the result has earned the design a place in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.