The radiant Pinecone table lamp by Italian designer Paola Navone (b. 1950) owes to an ancient glass technique for its modern take on lighting design. The unusual shape of the lamp’s diffuser is formed by a glassmaker blowing molten glass into a metal cage and allowing the material to naturally expand. The undulating surface, an effect of the tension between the expanding glass and the frame of the cage that constrains it, resembles the layers of a pinecone.

Navone initially studied architecture in her hometown of Turin before moving to Florence and then Milan to work in design, where her elevation of imperfections and the uniqueness of handcrafted objects has distinguished her decades of work. Navone’s career has spanned a diversity of disciplines, from her 1980s’ involvement in the avant-garde Alchimia group to her joyous embrace of global culture in industrial design, art direction, curation and interiors. A consistently in-demand designer in a male-dominated field, Navone’s collaborations include major clients, such as Swarovski, Roche Bobois, Knoll International and even McDonald’s, for whom she redesigned several stores in France.

The 2016 Pinecone table lamp was produced for the Italian lighting and design firm Fontana Arte, which continues to manufacture the original as well as a suspension version. A single interior bulb is employed to illuminate the Pinecone's diamond pattern of lines. Offered in white acid-etched and transparent blown glass — the latter casting lattices of light — with a chrome or gold finish on its cage, Navone's fixture makes an elegant statement on the beauty of its materials that's both sculptural and functional.