Italian lighting brand Miniforms has unveiled a pendant crafted from post-consumer polyethylene (PE).
The PE for Rificolona, designed by Tuscany-based studio e-ggs, is sourced from both industrial and household waste.
It’s the most widespread of the plastics and is commonly used in packaging such as bags, films and bottles as well as pipes, toys, containers, and various industrial parts.
However, polyethylene’s chemical resilience also makes it a long-lived and decomposition-resistant pollutant when disposed of improperly.
It is lightweight and translucent, creating an ‘evocative and suggestive atmosphere’ says the company.
The material is first sorted by type to ensure purity of the mono-polymer, then melted at a low temperature—never burned. This, says Miniforms, defines a low-impact, sustainable process using a material that can be remelted indefinitely. It describes the product as ‘a truly circular approach’.
Rificolona was originally conceived as a ceiling lamp, equipped with a bespoke adjustable system.
A small black sphere connects the two support cables: slide the sphere to adjust the lamp’s angle—from horizontal to vertical, or anywhere in between.
Rificolona comes in three sizes and is available in ceiling, floor, and desk versions.
Regardless of its size, Rificolona maintains a constant dialogue with its surroundings through the clarity of its body.
Entirely made of polyethylene, its transparent form is textured by small fragments of the same material, sprayed onto the surface to create a visual rhythm shaped by varying densities.
Miniforms is an Italian family-run design company which was founded in the 1970s, and rebranded in 2009. As well as lighting, it makes designer furniture. It collaborates with emerging and established industrial designers to develop a unique catalog of luminaires that expresses both aesthetic originality and everyday functionality, says the brand.
Its collections are produced entirely in Italy, with, it says, ‘material honesty, and environmental responsibility’.
• Learn more about sustainable lighting at Circular Lighting Live 2025, Recolight’s flagship conference and exhibition, which takes place on Thursday 25 September 2025 at the Minster Building in the City of London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2025 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live
Photographer: Alessandro Di Bon
