Elegant Ettore Sottsass Floor Lamp for Arredoluce, Italy, 1957
View Similar Items
Elegant Ettore Sottsass Floor Lamp for Arredoluce, Italy, 1957
About the Item
- Creator:Ettore Sottsass (Designer),Arredoluce (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 69.69 in (177 cm)Diameter: 19.69 in (50 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1957
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Brussels, BE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU226539306991
Ettore Sottsass
An architect, industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, Ettore Sottsass led a revolution in the aesthetics and technology of modern design in the late 20th century.
Sottsass was the oldest member of the Memphis Group — a design collective, formed in Milan in 1980, whose irreverent, spirited members included Alessandro Mendini, Michele de Lucchi, Michael Graves and Shiro Kuramata. All had grown disillusioned by the staid, black-and-brown “corporatized” modernism that had become endemic in the 1970s. Memphis (the name stemmed from the title of a Bob Dylan song) countered with bold, brash, colorful, yet quirkily minimal designs for furniture, glassware, ceramics and metalwork. They mocked high-status by building furniture with inexpensive materials such as plastic laminates, decorated to resemble exotic finishes such as animal skins. Their work was both functional and — as intended — shocking. Even as it preceded the Memphis Group's formal launch, Sottsass's iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell and radical pops of pink neon — embodies many of the collective's postmodern ideals.
Sottsass's most-recognized designs appeared in the first Memphis collection, issued in 1981 — notably the multihued, angular Carlton room divider and Casablanca bookcase. As pieces on 1stDibs demonstrate, however, Sottsass is at his most imaginative and expressive in smaller, secondary furnishings such as lamps and chandeliers, and in table pieces and glassware that have playful and sculptural qualities.
It was as an artist that Ettore Sottsass was celebrated in his life, in exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 2006, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art a year later. Even then Sottsass’s work prompted critical debate. And for a man whose greatest pleasure was in astonishing, delighting and ruffling feathers, perhaps there was no greater accolade. That the work remains so revolutionary and bold — that it breaks with convention so sharply it will never be considered mainstream — is a testament to his genius.
Arredoluce
The lighting company Arredoluce opened in 1943, at the start of a golden era of modernist Italian design, and was born of the confluence of an eager entrepreneurial business spirit and a fresh, innovative, forward-looking creative atmosphere.
Angelo Lelii (1911–79), the founder of Arredoluce, which was based in the Milanese district of Monza, was a gifted and at times brilliant designer. He had the insight to commission works from other greats of the day, including Gio Ponti, Vico Magistretti, the brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni and Ettore Sottsass Jr.
Lelii’s designs cover a broad aesthetic range. His most famous work, the Triennale floor lamp (circa 1947), is both elegant and practical, with three omnidirectional lighting booms attached to a central pole. His well-known ceiling light of 1954 — in which a conical canister bounces light upward off a lighting-arced enameled-aluminum sheet — is a piece of design poetry. And his 1962 Cobra table lamp has a wild, almost surreal look, featuring a sculptured rod of polished metal with a socket that, like his Eye floor lamp of the early 1960s, holds an eyeball-like directional bulb.
Arredoluce also placed few constraints on the creativity of the designers it employed from outside the company. The Castiglioni brothers’ Turbino table lamp of 1951, for example, is a remarkably early example of minimalist design. The company both fostered the tradition-minded aspect of Gio Ponti’s sensibility and produced several of his experimental pieces in Lucite in the 1950s; and Sottsass’s UFO table lamp of 1957, a sandwich of two plastic bubbled tablets on four legs, prefigures the look of his postmodern works for the Memphis Group by more than 20 years. From the stylish and utilitarian to the avant-garde, lighting by Arredoluce includes some of the most diverse, remarkable — and collectible — designs of the late 20th century.
- Angelo Lelli Floor Lamp for Arredoluce, 1960By Angelo LeliiLocated in Brussels, BEAngelo Lelli floor lamp for Arredoluce- 1960.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Ettore Sottsass "Rocchetto" Italian Side Tables for Poltronova, 1964By Ettore SottsassLocated in Brussels, BEMid-Century Modern Ettore Sottsass " Rocchetto" italian side tables for Poltronova, 1964, European.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Side Tables
MaterialsWood
- Demistella Console by Ettore Sottsass for Up&Up, Italy, 1990sBy Ettore SottsassLocated in Brussels, BEDemistella console by Ettore Sottsass for Up&Up, Italy, 1990s.Category
1990s Italian Console Tables
MaterialsMarble
- Italian 3-Light Floor LampLocated in Brussels, BEItalian 3-light floor lamp.Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Ultrafragola Mirror / Lamp by Ettore Sottsass, PoltronovaBy Ettore SottsassLocated in Brussels, BEUltrafragola mirror / lamp by Ettore Sottsass, Poltronova. Sold with original box and certificate of authenticity.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Floor Mirrors and Full-Leng...
MaterialsPlastic
- Pirro Cuniberti "PR" Floor Lamp for Sirrah, Italy, circa 1970By Sirrah, Pirro CunibertiLocated in Brussels, BEWhite dome lamp, and telescoping arm. The pole mounts to the floor and ceiling, and the lamp arm is adjustable for height. The extended arm holding the...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- 'Siluro' Floor Lamp Angelo Lelli, Ettore Sottsass for Arredoluce, Italy, 1957By Ettore Sottsass, Arredoluce, Alfred LelliLocated in Naples, ITFloor lamp model 12628 design Angelo Lelli and Ettore Sottsass for Arredoluce. Made of marble, lacquered metal, perplex and brass. It appears in the reasoned catalog 1943-1987, pag...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMarble, Metal, Brass
$18,452 Sale Price20% Off - Floor Lamp 14104 Moonlight by Ettore Sottsass for Arredoluce, 1971By Ettore Sottsass, ArredoluceLocated in PARIS, FRThis floor lamp model "14104" or "Moonlight" was designed by Ettore Sottsass for the Italian publishing house Arredoluce in 1971. This Italian designer was very influential in the 2...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Cavalieri Floor Lamp EU 220 V. by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Ettore Sottsass, Memphis MilanoLocated in La Morra, CuneoCavalieri Floor Lamp EU Wiring 220 V. in Wood and Plastic Laminate by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collection Additional Information: Floor lamp in wood and plastic laminat...Category
2010s Floor Lamps
MaterialsPlastic
- KING'S Floor Lamp UE 230 V, by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collectionBy Ettore Sottsass, Memphis MilanoLocated in La Morra, CuneoKING'S Floor Lamp UE Wiring 230 V. in Metal and Glass by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collection Additional Information: Floor lamp in metal and glass. Collection: Memphis...Category
2010s Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- King's Floor Lamp EU 220 V. by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Ettore Sottsass, Memphis MilanoLocated in La Morra, CuneoKing's floor lamp EU wiring 220 V. in Metal and Glass by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collection Additional Information: Floor lamp in metal and glass. Collection: Memphis...Category
2010s Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Treetops Floor Lamp USA 110 Volts, by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectBy Ettore Sottsass, Memphis Milano, Memphis GroupLocated in La Morra, CuneoHere you are shown the US wired "Treetops" floor lamp designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 in metal with halogen bulb. Ettore Sottsass was born in Innsbruck in 1917. In 1939 he graduated in architecture at the Politecnico di Torino. One of the most influential and important figures of the last century. As an Architect and Designer, he has participated in all radical movements whether created from the 1970s and 1980s. In 1981 he founded the Memphis group, a group that has radically changed the scenario of Italian and world design. Honored with numerous international awards, was winner of the Golden Compass in 1959. He designed the first laptop "Valentina" by Olivetti. He died in 2007 at the age of 90 years. Memphis Milano is the great cultural phenomenon of the 1980s that revolutionized creative and commercial logics in design. Born from the idea of Ettore Sottsass and a group of young designers and architects, in Milan, coupled in the years by famous designers from the international scene, Memphis turned upside down all of the existing parameters on living. Ettore Sottsass as the backbone of the group, design gained a new concept and expression through new shapes, materials and patterns, expanding the creative limits of the industry. Memphis became a symbol of New Design. Its influence is still clear in various sectors of production and beyond. Additional Info: - Dimensions: H 76.75 inches, Base W. 10.75 inches, D. 40.25 inches. - Materials: Metal. - Color options: Available in yellow fixture, orange stem, turquoise knob and mint green base; or in an orange fixture...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal