Massoni Moana

Luigi Massoni was one of Italy’s most prolific designers and instrumental in the growth of the country’s design industry in the postwar years through his products, advertising campaigns and journalistic work at Italian magazines.

Born in Milan, Massoni trained at the Collettivo di Architettura in Milan and worked as an architect and designer as well as a freelance journalist and consultant. He was involved with many of Italy’s most influential brands, such as Poltrona Frau, the Guzzini group and Alessi. Massoni was hired by Alessi, the legendary housewares and kitchen utensils manufacturer, which had been around since 1921, in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he collaborated with like-minded product designer Carlo Mazzeri on the universally renowned stainless-steel cocktail shaker 870, which, followed by other kitchen containers for the brand, was one of the first objects from Alessi that hadn’t been created in-house.

Together with architect Carlo De Carli, Massoni founded a magazine called Il Mobile Italiano and later Mobilia, an association of Italian furniture makers and one of the first organizations that focused on the promotion of Italian design. In the 1960s, Massoni began to design lamps and serveware for Guzzini, where he also consulted on design and company communications. He designed revolutionary furnishings for the kitchen at Boffi Cucine, producing modular kitchens, cabinets without traditional handles and more.

On 1stDibs, browse a collection of vintage Luigi Massoni vanity tables, sideboards, table lamps and more.

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.