Gino Sarfatti & Arteluce, Early Table Lamp 600/C, Italy, 1966
About the Item
- Creator:Arteluce (Manufacturer),Gino Sarfatti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 7.09 in (18 cm)Diameter: 3.94 in (10 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1966
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:La Teste De Buch, FR
- Reference Number:
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: La Teste De Buch, France
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
- Gino Sarfatti & Arteluce Table Lamp Model 569/N Italy, 1956By Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRTable lamp model 569 N by Gino Sarfatti & Arteluce Designed in 1956 and made in Italy. Adjustable reflector in aluminium lacquered black, cast iron trumpet-shaped base lacquered ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum, Brass
- Mid-Century Modern Table Lamp by Stilnovo, Model 8052, Italy, 1958By StilnovoLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRItalian Mid-Century Modern table lamp by Stilnovo. Model 8052. Designed and made in Italy in 1958. Made from green tinted glass, opaline glass, plated brass and lacquered brass. ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Brass and Glass Table Lamp, France 1960sBy Venini, Tapio WirkkalaLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRFrench table lamp from the 1960s. Made from solid brass, purple colored glass and opaline glass. Nice texture to the brass base, original gold varnish on brass. Beautiful patina. ...Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsBrass
- Alain Richard A4 Table Lamp with Marble Base, Ed Disderot, France, 1958By Disderot, Alain RichardLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRTable lamp by French designer Alain Richard. Edited by Disderot in 1958. Model A4. Chromed and lacquered metal, brushed steel and marble. Fully original and complete. Great avant-gar...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsCarrara Marble, Chrome
- Robert Long Solid Brass and Opal Glass Lamp, Sausalito California, circa 1965By Robert LongLocated in La Teste De Buch, FRLarge table lamp by Robert Long. The lamp is made from solid brass and opal glass. It features 2 sockets for the glass globes, 2 sockets for the bottom of the brass cylinders (ambien...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsBrass
- Early Tripod Dot Stool by Fritz Hansen, Teak and Plated Copper, Denmark 1960sBy Arne Jacobsen, Fritz HansenLocated in La Teste De Buch, FROriginal tripod Dot stool by danish manufacturer Fritz Hansen. Moulded seat in teak veneer, plated copper feet. Marked accordingly "FH Denmark" Full or...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Stools
MaterialsCopper
- Gino Sarfatti, Rare Table Lamp Model 600c, 1966 for Arteluce, ItalyBy Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in Munster, NRWOriginal table lamp 600c, designed by Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce in 1966. Made of black lacquered aluminum and a pouch support in black sky leather, filled with lead shot. This t...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- White 600P Table Lamp by Gino Sarfatti by Arteluce, Italy 1966By Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in Echt, NLOriginal early version of the P600 lamp in very good original condition. Designed by Gino Sarfatti, in the 1960s Manufactured by Arteluce, Italy Made of lacquered metal and leath...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gino Sarfatti, Set of 2 Table Lamps mod. 600/C, Arteluce Italy, 1966By Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Firenze, ITSet of 2 black & white table lamps mod. 600/C designed by master Gino Sarfatti, manufactured by his own Arteluce. Designed in 1966, produced 1960 - 1969 Lacquered aluminium. The leather base is filled with small lead balls...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- Gino Sarfatti, Set of 2 Table Lamps mod. 600/C, Arteluce Italy, 1966By Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in Firenze, ITSet of2 black table lamps mod. 600/C designed by master Gino Sarfatti, manufactured by his own Arteluce. Designed in 1966, produced 1960 - 1969 Lacquered aluminium. The leather base is filled with small lead balls...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- Early 600p Table Lamp by Gino Sarfatti for ArteluceBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in London, London600P table lamp By Gino Sarfatti For Arteluce Original label Early example 1960s Italy.Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Gino Sarfatti 600C Table Lamp Arteluce, 1970sBy Arteluce, Gino SarfattiLocated in San Benedetto Del Tronto, ITDesigned by Gino Sarfatti in 1966, model 600 is an authentic and distinctive design masterpiece. The idea was inspired by the bean bag ashtrays. The leather base evokes a tennis ball. Thanks to the lead balls...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal