Sanremo Floor Lamp by Archizoom Associati

With its burst of illuminated acrylic “leaves” emerging from a long metal trunk, the kitschy design of 1968’s Sanremo floor lamp resembles a cheap artificial palm tree. That irreverence is in line with the avant-garde work of Archizoom Associati, a studio formed in 1966 in Florence alongside the rise of Italian Radical design and fellow collectives such as Superstudio, Ziggurat and UFO.

An “anti-design” style was fully embraced by the members of this movement — many were recent graduates of prestigious Italian academic institutions. They relished in experimenting with new materials, unconventional shapes and vivid colors for furnishings and objects, while they challenged modern architecture norms with venturesome concepts for nightclubs. The movement’s celebration of pop culture and irony was a reaction to the starkness of the dominant modernism and what the Italian Radical designers deemed a promotion of consumerism.

The prototype for the cheeky faux foliage — named for the seaside Italian city of Sanremo — was devised by industrial designer Dario Bartolini (b. 1943) as an engagement present for his fellow Archizoom member and fiancée Lucia Morozzi. In addition to the Sanremo floor lamp’s clever use of transparent plastic to radiate light through its leaves, the initial concept for the fixture featured a sound element that would resemble the chirping noise of a cricket’s song. Although that whimsical touch didn’t make it into the version produced by Italian furniture manufacturer Poltronova, the floor lamp has plenty of eccentric flourishes, including color options of fluorescent red, green and blue light as well as a base in black or white.

For eight years, Italian architecture and design studio Archizoom Associati challenged modernism and aligned itself with what we now call Radical Design, an avant-garde art movement established largely in Florence that produced exuberant conceptual furnishings and objects that were neither practical nor very commercial. Through iconic works like the Sanremo floor lamp and the Mies lounge chair, Archizoom and other proponents of the movement protested functionalism and explored form, color and material in a way that countered the existing social order.

Founded in 1966 by University of Florence students Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Corretti, Massimo Morozzi and Paolo Deganello, Archizoom questioned mass consumerism and the validity of rapid postwar modernization in their native country. In their architecture initiatives, interiors, installations, furniture and more, Archizoom's members were pioneers of postmodernism — future Memphis Group cofounder Ettore Sottsass was also part of the Radical Design movement — and alongside likeminded collectives such as Superstudio, Ziggurat and UFO, Archizoom drew on Pop art, Minimalism and Arte Povera to expand upon the expressive potential of design. Branzi and his peers were also deeply influenced by the visionary work of London architecture collective Archigram — so much so that the group’s name is inclusive of Zoom, which is the name of a zine published by the British collective.

In Archizoom’s No-Stop City — an unbuilt architecture project — the urban area is stripped bare, a featureless monochromatic expanse that sees built structures meeting nothing more than the basic needs of human existence. The group’s Mies lounge chair — a tribute to early modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe — was developed for Poltronova and hardly resembles a chair at all. It is not until one sits down that the detached bench seat combines with the backrest and becomes a full seat. The human body bonds the pieces together to make a chair that is surprisingly functional — and even compact.

The Radical Design movement is experiencing something of a renaissance, and Archizoom Associati’s works featured prominently in 2020’s “Radical: Italian Design 1965-1985” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The collective’s designs were given a global stage in the classic 1972 exhibition “Italy : The New Domestic Landscape” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, but most of the groups associated with Radical Design dissolved by the mid-1970s. The Mies lounge chair is held in MoMA’s permanent collection. 

Find vintage Archizoom Associati seating, lighting and tables on 1stDibs.