Fontana Arte Parola Transparent Glass Wall Lamp
View Similar Items
Fontana Arte Parola Transparent Glass Wall Lamp
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 20.8 in (52.84 cm)Diameter: 7.8 in (19.82 cm)Length: 20.8 in (52.84 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1980-1989
- Date of Manufacture:2017
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU163926576503
Gae Aulenti
The Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti will forever be best remembered for her work with museums, in particular her 1980–86 renovation of a Beaux Arts Paris train station to create the galleries of the Musée d’Orsay. Aulenti — whose first name, short for Gaetana, is pronounced “guy” — should also be recalled for her tough intellectual spirit and for working steadily when few women found successful architectural careers in postwar Italy.
After she graduated from the Milan Polytechic in 1954, Aulenti opened an architectural office. She also joined the staff of the progressive architectural magazine Casabella, whose editorial line was that the establishment, orthodox modernism of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, had outlived it usefulness. When their movement for fresh approaches to architecture and design received a sympathetic hearing, Aulenti found patrons — most prominently Gianni Agnelli, of Fiat, who later employed her to renovate the Palazzo Grassi in Venice for use as an arts exhibition space.
Commissions for showrooms and other corporate spaces brought Aulenti to furniture design. She felt that furniture should never dominate a room. Her chairs and sofas — low-slung, with rounded enameled metal frames and ample seats — and tables, particularly her 1972 marble Jumbo coffee table for Knoll, project solidity and sturdiness. In lighting design, however, Aulenti is bravura. Each work has a marvelous sculptural presence. Pieces such as her Pipistrello table lamp and Quadrifoglio pendant are a perfect marriage of organically shaped glass and high-tech fixtures. Others have a futuristic elegance — and some even have a touch of personality. Aulenti’s Pileino and La Ruspa table lamps each look almost like little robots. Her lighting pieces are an artful grace note in the career of a woman who believed in strength.
Fontana Arte
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
- Fontana Art Parola Table Lamp Designed by Gae Aulenti and Piero CastiglioniBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in Brooklyn, NYDesigned by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni, the Parola lamp features three different kinds of glass working processes: opaline blown glass for the adjus...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsBlown Glass
- Max Ingrand Fontana Arte Fontana Total Black Table Lamp in Glass, 2014 EditionBy Max Ingrand, Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYDesigned by Max Ingrand and manufactured by Fontana Arte, the Fontana total black table lamp, 2014 Edition, is an unusual Total Black produced in 2014 to mark the 60th anniversary of...Category
2010s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Fontana Glass Table Lamp Designed by Max Ingrand in 1954 for Fontana ArteBy Fontana Arte, Max IngrandLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn evergreen, timeless design icon, this is the lampshade par excellence. A fabulous lamp in frosted white blown glass, an example of the art of master glassmakers, it pays tribute ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Sillaba Wall and Ceiling Lamp by Piero Castiglioni for Fontana ArteBy Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYDesigned for either wall or ceiling installation, Sillaba combines discretion and pureness, furnishing any room with its minimal presence. Available in three sizes: ø 3.5” × 2....Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsPlastic
- Fontana Arte Small Uovo Table Lamp in Metal Frame and Blown GlassBy Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYFrom the historical archives of Fontana Arte designed in 1972, the Uovo table lamp is a natural shape that has always been a symbol of perfection. Made...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Fontana Small Glass Table Lamp Designed by Max Ingrand in 1954 for Fontana ArteBy Max Ingrand, Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn evergreen, timeless design icon, this is the lampshade par excellence. A fabulous lamp in frosted white blown glass, an example of the art of master glassmakers, it pays tribute ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gae Aulenti & Piero Castiglioni "Parola" table lamp for Fontana Arte Italy 1980sBy Flos, Gae AulentiLocated in Skokie, ILGae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni "Parola" table lamp for Fontana Arte, Italy, circa 1980s Designed by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni, the Parola lamp ...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsGlass
- Gae Aulenti Piero & Castigilioni Fontana Arte Lampada Italiana da Terra ParolaBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in Reggio Emilia, ITLampada italiana, vintage di modernariato, modello Parola disegnata da Gae Aulenti e Piero Castiglioni per Fontana Arte con diffusore in vetro opalinino, stelo e base in cristallo. E...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsCrystal
- Parola sconce by Gae Aulenti & Piero Castiglioni for Fontana Arte, Italy, 1980sBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in Milano, ITCrafted by the collaborative efforts of Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni, the Parola lamp showcases a harmonious fusion of three distinct glassworking techniques. The adjustable sha...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsMetal
- Pietra Table Lamp by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni for Fontana Arte, 1980By Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in Renens, CHModel 2802 “Pietra” table lamp by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni for Fontana Arte. The lamp consists of a heavy glass base and polished metal lamp shades; it remains in beautif...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Edy table lamp by Piero Castiglioni for Fontana Arte, 1980sBy Fontana ArteLocated in Rotterdam, NLEdy table lamp designed by Piero Castiglioni for Fontana Arte in 1982. Besides a table lamp, the Edy series of low-voltage lamps consisted of a hanging lamp, a wall lamp and a floor...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte Italian Giova Metal Glass Table Lamp, 1970sBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in Reggio Emilia, ITItalian, vintage modern antique table lamp, Giova small model designed by Gae Aulenti and produced by Fontana Arte with chromed metal base and white glass, clear glass and colored gl...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal