Gino Sarfatti Adjustable Table Lamp for Arteluce Model Number 598, circa 1965
View Similar Items
Gino Sarfatti Adjustable Table Lamp for Arteluce Model Number 598, circa 1965
About the Item
- Creator:Gino Sarfatti (Designer),Arteluce (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 16.25 in (41.28 cm)Diameter: 15.25 in (38.74 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. light overall wear, some discoloration to painted interior of the metal shade, marks to the various parts that are typical of their function with normal use over the years.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU819721724322
Gino Sarfatti
That a spiky, futuristic chandelier named “Sputnik,” which was highly suggestive of the Soviet satellite of the same name, designed by an Italian engineer could predate the space age and the satellite’s launch by a few decades is the stuff of legend. But in 1939, Venetian-born Gino Sarfatti channeled his obsession with light and expert engineering skills into a design so bold it predicted the future. He would go on to design around 700 lighting products in his lifetime — each table lamp, wall light, pendant and chandelier superb and unorthodox in shape.
Sarfatti’s singular focus on creating opulent lighting designs that were rational in their use of resources makes him one of the most innovative lighting designers in history. He was studying to be an aeronautical engineer at the University of Genoa when his family’s financial troubles led him to drop out and move to Milan to help. During this time, he built a lamp for a friend using a coffee machine’s electric components and a glass vase. This exercise sparked his fascination with lighting, and he went on to found Arteluce in 1939. What followed was a period of working with skilled artisans and tinkering with materials instead of sketching. The self-taught designer soon established himself as a creator of provocative, sculptural luxury lighting. Through the company, he collaborated with some of the 20th century’s most influential designers, such as Vittoriano Viganò, who worked on Arteluce lighting between 1946 and 1960. In the 1950s and ’70s, Franco Albini, Franca Helg, Ico Parisi and Massimo Vignelli all contributed designs.
Sarfatti used resources mindfully and injected functionality into everything he designed. His light fixtures were lightweight, easy to take apart and reassemble and could be affordably repaired. This marriage of utilitarianism and glamour lent Sarfatti’s designs a clean, minimal yet arresting splendor, based on their graphical forms and construction.
After World War II, Sarfatti embraced new wiring technologies and materials like plexiglass, such as his 1972 project with Carlo Mollino that filled the Teatro Regio in Turin with hundreds of plexiglass pipes. In 1973, Sarfatti sold Arteluce to FLOS. His foresight, invention and fearlessness as a designer are revered to this day.
Find a collection of vintage Gino Sarfatti lighting now on 1stDibs.
Arteluce
The lighting maker Arteluce was one of the companies at the heart of the creative explosion in postwar Italian design. The firm’s founder and guiding spirit, Gino Sarfatti (1912–85), was an incessant technical and stylistic innovator who almost single-handedly reinvented the chandelier as a modernist lighting form.
Sarfatti attended the University of Genoa to study aeronautical engineering but was forced to drop out when his father’s company went out of business. His mechanical instincts led him to turn his attention to lighting design — and he founded Arteluce as a small workshop in Milan in 1939. Sarfatti’s father was a Jew, so the family fled to Switzerland in 1943, but after the war — largely thanks to Sarfatti’s insistence on efficiency of design and manufacture — Arteluce quickly established itself as a top firm. Though Sarfatti continued as chief designer through the 1950s and ’60s, he also enlisted other designers such as Franco Albini and Massimo Vignelli to contribute work. Sarfatti sold Arteluce to FLOS — a rival Italian lighting maker — in 1973 and retired to pursue a more traditional avocation: collecting and dealing rare postage stamps.
Sarfatti is regarded by many collectors as a pioneer of minimalist design. He pared down his lighting works to their essentials, focusing on practical aspects such as flexibility of use. His most famous light, the 2097 chandelier, is a brilliant example of reductive modernist design, featuring a central cylinder from which branches numerous supporting fixtures extending like spokes on a wheel. Similarly, his 566 table lamp is a simple canister, able to be raised or lowered on a stem, holding a half-chrome bulb. Despite the marked functionality of his designs, Sarfatti did have a sprightly side: His 534 table lamp, with its cluster of rounded enameled shades, resembles a vase full of flowers, the Sputnik chandelier (model 2003) was inspired by fireworks and the brightly colored plastic disks of the 2072 chandelier look like lollipops. No matter the style, Sarfatti concentrated first and foremost on the character of light created — and any Arteluce lamp is a modernist masterpiece.
- Arteluce Table Lamp by Filippo Panseca Acrylic Block with Articulated ArmBy ArteluceLocated in Chicago, ILThis acrylic block table lamp with articulated arm was designed by Filippo Panseca for Arteluce. It can be positioned in various ways. It's a nice ...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- Marianne Brandt Table Desk Lamp for Kandem with Adjustable Arm and ShadeBy KandemLocated in Chicago, ILArtist, sculptor, designer and teacher Marianne Brandt's desk lamp by Kandem is a classic, Bauhaus inspired design. The adjustable arm and shade make it an excellent task / work lam...Category
20th Century German Industrial Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Italian Table Lamp Marble and Brass with Adjustable Fixture and Reflector ShadeLocated in Chicago, ILThis Italian table lamp has an elegant, marble base and sculptural form. The adjustable fixture and reflector shade allow for directing the light in va...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMarble, Brass
- Louis Kalff Table or Desk Lamp for Philips with Perforated Metal ShadeBy PhilipsLocated in Chicago, ILTable lamp with open top and perforated metal shade designed by Louis Kalff for Philips, Netherlands. This lamp has pleasing proportions, and an elegantly tapered stem. Please conta...Category
20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- David Cressey Ceramic Table Lamp for Architectural Pottery with Textured SurfaceBy Architectural Pottery, David CresseyLocated in Chicago, ILCeramic table lamp designed by David Cressey for Architectural Pottery. It has a speckled brown glaze over a creamy base color and a textural surface treatment of freely applied squi...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsCeramic
- Ben Seibel Iron Base Floor Lamp for Raymor with White Glass Cylinder ShadeBy Raymor, Ben SeibelLocated in Chicago, ILThis Minimalist, Mid-Century Modern floor lamp was designed by Ben Seibel for Raymor. It has an iron frame with a black finish and a circular base and shade support. The shade is a w...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsIron
- Rare Gino Sarfatti Table Lamp Mod n. 598 for ArteLuceBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Milano, ITEnter the world of rare and exquisite design with a true masterpiece from the 1950s – the Gino Sarfatti model 598 table lamp for ArteLuce. This is not just a lamp; it's a work of art...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsBrass, Iron
- Gino Sarfatti For Arteluce Table Lamp in Green Lacquered MetalBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Waalwijk, NLGino Sarfatti for Arteluce, floor lamp model 1102/D 'garden light', lacquered metal, glass, Italy, 1975 The frame of this eccentric light sculpture is executed in a green colored metal mesh, a material that has frequently been used for garden furnishings...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gino Sarfatti For Arteluce Floor Lights Model 1102, Italy, 1971By Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Vienna, ATVery rare pair of Gino Sarfatti outdoor lights model 1102 for Arteluce from 1971 Sold and priced individually This pair of large lamps with a 72" he...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce Model 584/G Table LampBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Philadelphia, PAGino Sarfatti for Aretluce model 584/g table lamp. Designed in 1957, unique frosted plastic shade in tones of purple, topped off with a round chrome concave cover and tall hexagonal ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal, Chrome
- Gino Sarfatti Model 596 Table Lamp for ArteluceBy Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in Philadelphia, PAGino Sarfatti Seldom seen Model 596 table lamp. Gino Saratti Started and Designed many Classic Lamp Designs for Areluce. His designs shaped the Italian Design Movement! He was the fi...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Italian Mid-Century Aluminum Table Lamp 586 by Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce, 1960sBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in MIlano, ITItalian mid-century aluminum table lamp 586 by Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce, 1960s Table lamp model 586 with a circular base in black aluminum on which a polished aluminum sphere is p...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
$2,096 Sale Price20% Off