Lenci Lampione

Italian designer Fabio Lenci’s bold Space Age furniture exudes a spirit of adventure and playfulness. Experimenting with plexiglass for the framework of his famous Hyaline lounge chairs and sofas, for instance, he made seating that creates the illusion of a sitter suspended in the air.

Lenci was born in 1935 in Rome, where his father was an industrial manufacturer. He initially entered the Italian Air Force and later pursued decorating and product design. Lenci’s career took shape in 1962 and he quickly made a name for himself, winning the Trieste award in 1965 for his innovative kitchen design.

In the late 1960s, and throughout the ’70s, Lenci collaborated extensively with Bernini and Italian lighting company Guzzini. The latter partnership produced an array of more than 400 pendants, floor lamps, table lamps and other fixtures that look like lighting from the future.

In 2016, Lenci received the prestigious Compasso d'Oro award for a lifetime of forward-looking design. His pieces are found in museums throughout the world, including a Chain armchair in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He has created hundreds of products over the course of his career and continues to design out of his studio in Rome, and his work is celebrated by critics and collectors everywhere. 

On 1stDibs, explore Fabio Lenci’s futuristic tables, seating and lighting.

The modern floor lamp is an evolution of torchères — tall floor candelabras that originated in France as a revolutionary development in lighting homes toward the end of the 17th century. Owing to the advent of electricity and the introduction of new materials as a part of lighting design, floor lamps have taken on new forms and configurations over the years. 

In the early 1920s, Art Deco lighting artisans worked with dark woods and modern metals, introducing unique designs that still inspire the look of modern floor lamps developed by contemporary firms such as Luxxu. 

Popular mid-century floor lamps include everything from the enchanting fixtures by the Italian lighting artisans at Stilnovo to the distinctly functional Grasshopper floor lamp created by Scandinavian design pioneer Greta Magnusson-Grossman to the Paracarro floor lamp by the Venetian master glass workers at Mazzega. Among the more celebrated names in mid-century lighting design are Milanese innovators Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, who, along with their eldest brother, Livio, worked for their own firm as architects and designers. While Livio departed the practice in 1952, Achille and Pier Giacomo would go on to design the Arco floor lamp, the Toio floor lamp and more for legendary lighting brands such as FLOS. 

Today’s upscale interiors frequently integrate the otherworldly custom lighting solutions created by a wealth of contemporary firms and designers such as Spain’s Masquespacio, whose Wink floor lamps integrate gold as well as fabric fringes. 

Visual artists and industrial designers have a penchant for floor lamps, possibly because they’re so often a clever marriage of design and the functions of lighting. A good floor lamp can change the mood of any room while adding a touch of elegance to your entire space. Find yours now on 1stDibs.