Shogun Terra

Swiss architect Mario Botta may be renowned for his impressive postmodern architecture projects such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, but the chairs, lighting and other furniture he created reflect a mastery of geometrically rich forms and an elegant application of simple symmetry.

Born in Mendrisio, Switzerland, in 1943, Botta gained an interest in architecture at an early age. He apprenticed at the architectural firm Carloni and Camenisch and designed his first building — a two-family house at Morbis Superiore in Ticino — at age 16. During the early 1960s, Botta attended the Liceo Artistico in Milan and then studied at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice under art historian Giuseppe Mazzariol and influential Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.

While studying in Venice, Botta worked for Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier — whose career spanned hundreds of architecture projects — and gained inspiration from Estonian-American architect Louis Kahn, who was known for his modern and brutalist architectural style. In 1969, Botta completed his studies and established his practice in Lugano, designing and building single-family homes.

Throughout the 1970s, Botta gained fame for his innovative, geometrical designs and deceptively simple forms, such as his first large-scale building project in 1977 — the Middle School in Morbio Inferiore, Switzerland. Botta later established himself as one of the masters of 1980s postmodern design in his architecture and his furniture. His postmodern ideas characterize the dining room tables and seating he designed for companies such as Alias, as well as his table lamps and floor lamps for Artemide.

Botta’s noteworthy architectural projects designed during the 1990s and 2000s include the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center in Tel Aviv, Israel; the Monastery of the Holy Apostles Saint Peter and Andrew in Lviv, Ukraine; and the Theater of Architecture in Mendrisio, in 2018.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Mario Botta lighting fixtures, seating, tables and decorative objects.

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.