Achille Pier Giacomo Castiglioni Taraxacum Pendant Flos, 1960
View Similar Items
Achille Pier Giacomo Castiglioni Taraxacum Pendant Flos, 1960
About the Item
- Creator:Flos (Manufacturer),Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 19.69 in (50 cm)Width: 25.6 in (65 cm)Depth: 25.6 in (65 cm)
- Power Source:Hardwired
- Voltage:220-240v
- Lampshade:Included
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Roosendaal, NL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU933034009412
Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni
Milanese industrial designer-architects Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (1918–2002; 1913-68) created some of the most iconic furniture designs in the world, particularly those that originated in the realm of mid-century modern lighting.
In the late 1930s, after graduating from the acclaimed Polytechnic University of Milan, Pier Giacomo opened a design studio with his brother Livio and likeminded architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni. Achille, also a graduate of Milan Polytechnic, joined the group after completing his studies in 1944. The era’s architects were encountering difficulty in their attempts to secure building commissions, so the group focused on designing practical everyday objects such as the Model 547, a tabletop radio for Phonola that was encased in Bakelite.
The Castiglioni brothers produced wildly popular and innovative designs throughout the 20th century. While Livio departed the practice in 1952 to pursue lighting design and sound technology on his own, Pier Giacomo and Achille would continue to collaborate on a wealth of projects in the ensuing years.
Vintage furniture collectors may be familiar with Livio and Italian designer Gianfranco Frattini’s serpent-like Boalum lamp, while Achille’s Taraxacum hanging lamp — created for FLOS with sprayed plastic polymers originally intended for military use — as well as the Arco, Snoopy and Toio lamps, which were the result of the collaboration between Pier Giacomo and Achille, are milestones in modernist lighting design.
Also for FLOS, Pier Giacomo and Achille created a series of metal frames that, wrapped in the polymer, became floor lamps (Gatto) or pendant lights (Viscontea and Taraxacum), all released in 1960. The Gatto floor lamp takes its name from the Italian word for “cat” and the inspiration for its aesthetic from lighting that George Nelson developed for legendary American furniture manufacturer Howard Miller during the 1940s. Around the same time, the designer Tobia Scarpa (son of the famed Italian architect Carlo Scarpa and one-half of the widely revered postmodern husband-and-wife design duo Afra and Tobia Scarpa) created a floor lamp called Fantasma (1961) using the polymers technique. FLOS continues to make the Castiglionis’ innovative pieces today.
In addition to their provocative lighting works, Pier Giacomo and Achille also created stereo systems, decorative objects, seating, tables and other items for the likes of Brionvega, Alessi, Zanotta, Kartell and more.
Find vintage Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni floor lamps, table lamps, pendants, seating and other furniture on 1stDibs.
Flos
Imaginative lighting is a longtime hallmark of modern Italian design. Following in the footsteps of innovative companies such as Artemide and Arteluce, the company FLOS brought a fresh aesthetic philosophy to the Italian lighting field in the 1960s, one that would produce several of the iconic floor lamp, table lamp and pendant light designs of the era.
FLOS — Latin for “flower” — was founded in the northern town of Merano in 1962 by Cesare Cassina (of the famed Cassina furniture-making family) and Dino Gavina, a highly cultured businessman who believed that artistic ideas espoused in postwar Italy could inform commercial design. The two enlisted brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni as their first designers.
Even before FLOS was formally incorporated, the Castiglionis gave the firm one of its enduring successes with the Taraxacum pendant and associated designs made by spraying an elastic polymer on a metal armature. (George Nelson had pioneered the technique in the United States in the early 1950s.) For other designs, the brothers found inspiration in everyday objects. Suggestive of streetlights, their Arco floor lamp, with its chrome boom and ball-shaped shade sweeping out from a marble block base, has become a staple of modernist decors. Designing for FLOS since 1966, Tobia Scarpa has also been inspired by the commonplace. His folded-metal Foglio sconces resemble a shirt cuff; his carved marble Biagio table lamp looks like a jai alai basket.
In 1973, FLOS purchased Arteluce, the company founded in 1939 by Gino Sarfatti, and it continues to produce his designs. In recent decades, FLOS has contracted work from several noted designers, including Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison. As instantly recognizable as they are, many FLOS designs remain accessible. While FLOS lighting is the essence of modernity, its sleek, subtle designs can be used to strike a sculptural note in even traditional spaces.
Browse a broad range of FLOS lighting fixtures at 1stDibs.
- Pier Giacomo Castiglioni Azucena chairs made in Italy 1959By Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Luigi Caccia DominioniLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantExtremely rare minimalist side chairs model T12, designed by Luigi Caccia Dominioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Azucena, Italy 1959. Acquired from old stock directly from Azucen...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Stilnovo Pendant Lamp Model 1135, Italy 1960By StilnovoLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantNice pendant lamp model 1135 designed and made by Stilnovo, Italy 1960. This is for a very nice modernist shaped pendant lamp with a yellow lacquered metal shade holder, and a large ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Stilnovo Pendant Model 1135/2 Stilnovo, Italy, 1960By StilnovoLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantVery nice double pendant lamp model 1135 with nice shaped ceiling fitting for 2 pendants, designed and manufactured by Stilnovo, Italy 1960. This lamp has fittings made of brass and ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Stilnovo Pendant Model 1104 Italy 1959By StilnovoLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantVery nice and large ufo shaped pendant model 1104 designed and manufactured by Stilnovo, Italy 1959. Oval shaped opaline glass diffuser closed with black painted socket plate. Black painted ceiling fitting. This position of the shade can be adjusested which gives this a nice and playful appearance. Instead of having a normal horizontal lamp...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsAluminum
- Stilnovo chandelier model 1262 Italy 1960By StilnovoLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantVery nice chandelier model 1262 designed and manufactured by Stilnovo, Italy 1960. This chandelier is not only aesthetically pleasing but also the perfect size for a variety of settings. This piece draws inspiration from the famous Louis Poulsen PH Louvre and Snowball lamps...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsAluminum, Chrome
- Stilnovo Pendant Lamp Extra Large, Italy, 1950By StilnovoLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantVery nice and impressive large pendant lamp designed and manufactured by Stilnovo, Italy, 1950. This is for a very nice modernist shaped pendant lamp with conical shaped shade with b...Category
Vintage 1950s Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
$3,273 / item
- FLOS Taraxacum 2 Pendant Light by Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniBy Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Achille Castiglioni, FlosLocated in Brooklyn, NYMake a wish: Named after the humble Dandelion, the Taraxacum pendant light astonishes with a gorgeously diffused blooming light. The white powd...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsSteel
- FLOS Taraxacum 1 Pendant Light by Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniBy Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Achille Castiglioni, FlosLocated in Brooklyn, NYMake a wish: Named after the humble Dandelion, the Taraxacum pendant light astonishes with a gorgeously diffused blooming light. The white powder coated internal steel structure is s...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsSteel
- Taraxacum hanging lamp by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, 1960sBy Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, FlosLocated in Lasne, BEMetal and resin suspension lamp designed by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in the 1960s. Model: Taraxacum Maximum height with cable: 80 cm. Wear due to time and age of the lamp.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Achille Castiglioni & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Viscontea, Pendant Light FlosBy Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Flos, Achille Castiglioni, Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniLocated in Paris, FRAchille Castiglioni (1918-2002) & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (1913-1968) Viscontea A resin and metal pendant light, the internal metal frame covered with a sprayed resin coated shad...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Taraxacum Cocoon Pendant by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, ItalyBy Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniLocated in Chicago, ILA Taraxacum cocoon pendant light designed by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos in the 1960s. This captivating fixture features an en...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsResin
- Large Taraxacum 2 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos 1960By Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniLocated in Arezzo, ItalyLarge ceiling lamp Taraxacum 2 designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, 1960. Internal structure in white painted steel, sprayed with special resin cocoon, first pr...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
We Dare You Not to Smile at These Whimsical Italian Designs
Make anyplace your happy place with Italian furniture at its subversive best.
Rooms We Love: 11 Splendid Living Rooms
Common wisdom used to declare the kitchen the hub of the house. These days, the living room seems to have assumed the role of domestic focal point. Unlike the Victorian parlor, stiffly furnished and reserved for guests, today’s living room is a central place for reading, conversation and, well, living, with furnishings that lend themselves to both casual lounging and elegant entertaining.