Dezeen Magazine

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

Product news: different modular elements stack up to make these pendant lamps by Croatian design studio Grupa (+ movie).

The mix and match lamps by Grupa are called ILI-ILI, which means "either-or".

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

There are six modular elements to be combined in various ways.

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

Each module, made from powder-coated aluminium, is available in blue, green, yellow or grey,& in three shades of each colour.

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

Grupa was founded in Zagreb in 2006 by Filip Despot, Tihana Taraba and Ivana Pavic.

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

Similar products we've featured recently include stackable vessels made from marble, cut glass and 3D printed resin and a set of stackable lamps made from wood and recycled glass.

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

We've also featured lots of hanging lamps on Dezeen, such as a lamp made from ten metres of coiled electrical cord and another made from concrete and wood.

ILI-ILI lamps by Grupa

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Here's some more information from the designers:


The Studio Grupa is well-known Croatian design trio consisting of Tihana Taraba, Ivana Pavic and Filip Despot. They have presented several products over the last few years, presenting exceptionally good design with reasonable prices, thus creating original yet affordable designer products.

Grupa has a new product, series of lamps named ILI-ILI (EITHER-OR) which brings a completely new concept of the DIY approach to the Croatian lighting-fixtures market, i.e. design hanging fixtures, considering that their project enables the buyer to mix and match both shapes and colors. The designers created a concept based on six fundamental modular elements, different dimensions and diameters that can be mutually paired and combined, thus providing unlimited possibilities.

As the designers explain in their own words: "It's possible to assemble six different elements through the simple act of linking them together, hence creating various lighting fixtures. The forms are adjusted according to dimensions, so they fit each other, while the elements are mutually connected with carrying clasps."

In addition to matching and pairing various elements it's also possible to combine several colour modules. The designers selected a spectrum of blue, green, yellow, and grey, through three shades of each. As the very photos illustrate, the color shades and their mutual combinations, with the six abovementioned forms, offer solutions that can be applied and used in various situations. The final choice of the product's elements can lean towards either one colour or be complemented in a multi-coloured combination, always varying in form and shape.

This innovative approach towards the flexibility of the product and one's own choice, along with the constant possibility of upgrading or changing, already known to the international market, conceptually aims at a wide spectrum of application and provides the user with a product that's all but run-of-the-mill and boring.

“With the help of a recognisable manufacturing technique of metallurgy grinding and the traditional manufacturing art, the product is handmade from aluminium and powder coated in twelve different matte shades. Combining the traditional production technique with contemporary design opens up the possibility for users to design their own ideal combination, the choices are extensive, and as the name of the product states, it’s possible to mix and match them EITHER this way OR that.”