Giovanni Dalla Fina Gallery On Sale

Although little information exists about the life of Italian designer and Murano glass master Giovanni Dalla Fina, his legacy shines bright through exquisite hand-blown glass chandeliers, table lamps, floor lamps, coffee tables and other delicate objects. Giovanni Dalla Fina Gallery specializes in restoring antique Murano lighting fixtures as well as producing new editions of Dalla Fina designs.

Based in Veneto, Dalla Fina had been introduced to the prestigious world of Murano glassmaking as a young man, before establishing his own design company in the early 1970s. Guided by his tenet “perfection is an imperative,” Dalla Fina specialized in the restoration of antique and vintage Murano glass chandeliers and lamps, while also crafting his own decorative lighting inspired by Art Deco and mid-century modernism.

Among Dalla Fina’s most notable pieces is his multicolored Ca’Rezzonico chandelier, which he created in the 1980s and which was recently featured in House and Garden magazine. This dazzling masterpiece of Murano glassmaking comprises a bouquet of floral motifs embellished with red and blue ringlets and clusters of tiny grape-shaped orbs. A more monochrome example is his intricate flush-mount ceiling light constructed from vertical layers of transparent Quadriedro elements arranged as waves.

While Dalla Fina’s oeuvre consists mainly of lighting pieces, he also made graceful demi-lune tables, refined Fazzoletto (handkerchief) vases and charming outdoor wall sconces, which he designed for the Camer Glass company in the 1960s.

Dalla Fina’s works are popular among interior designers and aficionados of contemporary Murano glass.

On 1stDibs, find a range of Giovanni Dalla Fina Gallery lighting.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.

Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.

Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat. 

Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.

As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.

There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation. 

With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.

The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.