French designer Erwan Bouroullec has designed plenty of lighting over the years, but his latest collaboration with Flos leaves the final form in the hands of its owner. Available on Jul. 21, Maap is a new wall-mounted lighting system built around a crumpled Tyvek diffuser that transforms each installation into a one-of-a-kind composition. Rather than prescribing a final form, Bouroullec designed the lamp to be shaped, reshaped, and interpreted by the person living with it.
“I see design as part of a whole,” Bouroullec says. “Designs need to cooperate with a given environment and somehow enhance it.”
Photography courtesy of Flos
The project reflects Bouroullec’s long-standing interest in balancing precise geometry with the unpredictable qualities of nature. A simple steel framework and magnetic attachment points provide the underlying structure, while the oversized Tyvek envelope takes on unique folds and contours depending on how it’s arranged, ensuring no two installations are exactly alike.
“Maap embodies flexible and combinative construction principles which make it ready for architects to play with,” Bouroullec says. “[It’s about] providing solutions instead of a given proposal, thinking about collaboration instead of uniqueness, play instead of execution.”
Photography by Santi Caleca; courtesy of Flos
The lamp’s seemingly delicate shell is made from Tyvek, a material Bouroullec selected after paper proved too fragile during development. Tear-resistant yet exceptionally lightweight, Tyvek can be repeatedly reshaped while maintaining its structure. Large magnetic “Dots” secure the material to a steel framework while allowing it to be repositioned and reconfigured over time, reinforcing the idea that the object remains open to interpretation rather than fixed in a single composition.
Photography courtesy of Flos
Available in three sizes, with the largest spanning just over 10 feet wide, Maap transforms an entire wall into a softly glowing surface. Rather than emphasizing a single point of illumination, the oversized diffuser creates an ambient wash of light that Bouroullec likens to sunlight filtering through a window or glass wall, producing an atmospheric presence that feels as architectural as it is decorative.
Photography courtesy of Flos
Maap is available through Flos flagship stores, flos.com, Design Within Reach stores, and dwr.com.
