Lightolier Midcentury Glass Rod Chandelier
View Similar Items
Lightolier Midcentury Glass Rod Chandelier
About the Item
- Creator:Lightolier (Manufacturer),Gaetano Sciolari (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Diameter: 22 in (55.88 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1965
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Lambertville, NJ
- Reference Number:Seller: 10131stDibs: LU130824038973
Gaetano Sciolari
The work of celebrated mid-century Italian lighting designer and entrepreneur Angelo Gaetano Sciolari became widely popular in the United States during the postwar years and strongly influenced lighting makers around the world. The sculptural forms and striking geometric details of his vintage floor lamps, chandeliers and other fixtures fit seamlessly into the mid-century modern and Hollywood Regency interiors of the day.
Sciolari formally studied architecture but also pursued filmmaking for a short period. When his father passed away in 1949, Sciolari took the reins at his family's company, Sciolari Lighting, which had been in business in Rome since 1892. The manufacturer expanded considerably under Gaetano’s leadership. For one, pioneering American lighting company Lightolier, in New York City, began to import the Italian brand’s lighting for the U.S. market, and Lightolier’s star designer, Gerald Thurston, was significantly influenced by Gaetano’s work. In the 1970s, Americans looking to add provocative fixtures created by Gaetano Sciolari to their living rooms could find them in Lightolier catalogs.
Sciolari initially crafted lamps and sconces that bore the hallmarks of traditional Italian design. But during the 1950s, when he would become the in-house designer for legendary Milan lighting manufacturer Stilnovo — one of the leaders of Italian postwar design — he created revolutionary fixtures that endured as his best-known work.
Sciolari drew on a range of influences — enthusiasts see the imprint of Art Deco, brutalism and more in his lighting — and designed futuristic Space Age chandeliers, ceiling lamps and pendants for Stilnovo as well as Stilkronen and S.A. Boulanger that defied the conventions of the time. A dizzying array of materials and finishes characterizes the designer’s work, while geometry is pronounced in each sculptural fixture — there are blown opal glass spheres, polished chrome tubes and brass square bulb holders. These combinations were critical to the development of dazzling lighting that proves eye-catching in any space decades later.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Angelo Gaetano Sciolari lighting today.
Lightolier
Founded in 1904 in New York and family-operated through most of its history, Lightolier was one of the pioneering American electric lighting companies, best known for its embrace of stylistic and technical innovations.
Collectors focus on vintage Lightolier lighting fixtures produced from the 1950s and into the 1970s, when an in-house design team led by Gerald Thurston — and a stellar cast of international design contributors — created an array of practical yet aesthetically lively table lamps, floor lamps, sconces and chandeliers.
Amidst the post-World War II building boom, Lightolier — the name combines “light” and “chandelier” — aggressively boosted its residential lighting division. Thurston, who was strongly influenced by the sleek designs of Gino Sarfatti and his Italian lighting firm Arteluce, towards simpler lamp designs that offered flexibility of function. His best-known designs include the Cricket task light — a lamp with an adjustable enameled metal hood that toggles on a slender bent-metal base — and the three-legged Tripod floor lamp. At the same time, Thurston had a wonderful eye for talent and sought work from some of the lesser-known greats of the era, such as Paavo Tynell, the Finnish lighting designer, who designed several brass chandeliers for Lightolier with his trademark elegant flamboyance.
And more, Thurston recognized abilities in designers not known for their work in lighting.
Edward Wormley, head of furniture design for Dunbar, produced several noteworthy chandeliers employing canisters and reflective hoods. Alvin Lustig was famed as a graphic designer. His ca. 1953 Ring ceiling fixture for Lightolier had a minimalist techno look some 30 years ahead of its time. But this was par. Designed by Michael Lax in 1964, the Lytegem high-intensity lamp — included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art — features a ball-shaped shade attached with a chromed armature to a cubic base, a form that would be widely copied in the following decade. Chandeliers designed in the early 1970s by Gaetano Sciolari, with details such as acrylic diffusers and vertical, two-bulb arms, would define the look of lighting in their day.
A look through these pages reveals just how astonishingly wide a range of lighting pieces Lightolier produced. The company never flicked off its stylistic switch.
Find a collection of vintage Lightolier lamps and other lighting fixtures on 1stDibs.
- Lucite and Glass Rod Lamp Attributed to Gaetano Sciolari, circa 1970By Gaetano SciolariLocated in Lambertville, NJA glass rod and Lucite lamp that lights 3 ways, just the top socket, the base has 2 lights and you can light the base only at both the top and base. Attributed to Gaetano Sciolari. 2...Category
Vintage 1970s European Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsGlass, Lucite
$1,121 Sale Price25% Off - Italian Cascading Midcentury Hanging Light FixtureLocated in Lambertville, NJCascading graduated midcentury Italian light fixture with 5 hand blown glass globes. Globes have amber drippings. 3-way switch lights...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBlown Glass
- Mid Century Painted Tole and Zinc Candle ChandelierLocated in Lambertville, NJA whimsical hand painted tole and zinc 8 arm chandelier for candles. The chandelier in the form of a pineapple with leaves. Mid 20th century.Category
Mid-20th Century North American Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Zinc
- A Impressive Custom Waterford Crystal Chandelier, 65 inches longBy Waterford CrystalLocated in Lambertville, NJA Large Waterford grand ten-arm chandelier. Ten lights with five more interior lights with cut plume top crown underneath strands of faceted beads. The...Category
20th Century Irish Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsCrystal
$18,000 Sale Price65% Off - Pair of Post Modern Brutalist Abstract Gun Metal Gray ChandeliersLocated in Lambertville, NJA large pair of one of a kind brutalist industrial chandeliers. The welded steel frames with enamel finish decorated with small pyrite spheres,...Category
Vintage 1980s American Brutalist Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Mid-20th Century Chinoiserie Chandelier W/ Figures Riding Camels & Pagoda ShadesLocated in Lambertville, NJMid-20th Century Decorative Chinoiserie Chandelier with Figures riding camels. Shades are pagoda shaped. Very different and cool chandelier! Chandelie...Category
Mid-20th Century American Chinoiserie Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsComposition
- Lightolier Glass Rods 'Radiance' Ten Lights Chandelier , 1980s , USABy Gaetano Sciolari, LightolierLocated in St- Leonard, QuebecClassic 80s Lightolier chandelier from their Radiance line . Two row of light catching optical quality glass rods sitting on a nickel plated pierced steel plate. Contain 10 E12 ...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsNickel
$1,500 Sale Price40% Off - Gaetano Sciolari Lightolier Glass Rod Chrome Chandelier Pendant set 7 LampsBy Lightolier, Gaetano SciolariLocated in Wayne, NJSet of 7 Gaetano Sciolari flush mount chrome tone top ceiling lights in brass tone accent and glass rods . Each single lamp measures 9.13" point to point and will vary in width. You ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsGlass
- Chrome Glass Rod and Lucite Chandelier by Gaetano Sciolari for LightolierBy Lightolier, Gaetano SciolariLocated in New York, NYTwo-tier glass rod chandelier by Gaetano Sciolari for Lightolier. Lucite center disk and Eight chrome sockets and fittings. Measurement length includes chain.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsChrome
- Gaetano Sciolari for Lightolier Two-Tiered Glass Rod and Brass ChandelierBy Lightolier, Gaetano SciolariLocated in Chicago, ILGaetano Sciolari for Lightolier glass rod and brass two-tiered waterfall flush mount chandelier. Chrome-plated hexagonal ceiling mount with six brass plated reverse trefoil fitters. ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Flush Mount
MaterialsChrome, Brass
- Glass Rod Chandelier by Gaetano Sciolari for LightolierBy Gaetano SciolariLocated in New York, NYTwo tier glass rod and Lucite chandelier by Gaetano Sciolari for Lightolier. Eight chrome sockets and fittings. Measures 17" diameter x 33" long. (17" long without chain) Includes ch...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsChrome
- Lightolier Glass Rod Ceiling FixtureBy LightolierLocated in Philadelphia, PALightolier Glass Rod Chadelier. Lightolier designed and produced many versions of this classic fixture. Long glass rods with knuckles hold the rods in place. Candelabra bulbs ligh...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsChrome