Postmodern Italian Ettore Sottsass Table or Desk Lamp for Stilnovo Memphis

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. He was a wild man of the Radical Design movement that swept Italy in the late 1960s and ’70s, rejecting rationalism and modernism in favor of ever-more outrageous imaginings in lighting and furniture such as mirrors, lamps, chairs and tables.

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. 

The Memphis Group 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 created innovative furnishings for the likes of Artemide, Knoll, Zanotta and Poltronova, where he reigned as artistic director for nearly two decades beginning in 1958. His 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 inspired and expressive in smaller, secondary furnishings such as lamps and chandeliers, and in table pieces and glassware that have playful and sculptural qualities.

Sottsass left the Memphis Group in 1985 in order to concentrate on the growth of Sottsass Associati, a design and architecture consultancy he cofounded in 1980. 

It was as an artist that 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.

Find Ettore Sottsass lighting, decorative objects and furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Though Bruno Gatta founded Stilnovo way back in 1946, it is still one of the most instantly recognizable names in lighting. Gatta (1904–76) began his business in Milan, and, like many European creatives designing furniture and decor in the wake of World War II, he leaned toward the new wave of mass-market and streamlined styles. In fact, Stilnovo loosely translates to “new style” in Italian, and vintage Stilnovo chandeliers, floor lamps and other lighting have endured as a practical choice for those looking to bring innovative and forward-thinking design into their homes.

Soon after Stilnovo was established, Gatta’s lighting fixtures were applauded throughout Europe for their novel industrial materials as well as their unique yet functional shapes. Italy during the mid-20th century was completely revolutionary, and Bruno Gatta and Stilnovo’s head designer, Angelo Gaetano Sciolari, helped shape the era.

When the 1960s arrived, Stilnovo was experiencing such a boom that the company opened a new production plant in Lainate. One of the brand’s most famous pieces, Giovanni Luigi Gorgoni’s quirky 1965 Buonanotte spherical table lamp, became a best seller.

Gatta partnered with some of the most well-known names in design, including Ettore Sottsass, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Joe Colombo and Gae Aulenti. Sottsass’s pieces for Stilnovo, including the 1977 Valigia four-legged table lamp, the 1968 Lampros chandelier and Manifesto ceiling light, and the Castiglionis’ 1957 Saliscendi pendant light fixtures are some of the brand’s most recognizable to date. In 1978, De Pas, D’Urbino and Lomazzi designed the Fante lamp with an adjustable reflector that playfully recalls a broad-brimmed hat.

Stilnovo’s designs, including Danilo and Corrado Aroldi’s flexible Periscope table lamp, were featured in the 1972 exhibition “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” at the Museum of Modern Art. While Stilnovo continued to operate with new designer collaborations after Gatta’s death, it closed its doors in 1988.

Italian art director Massimo Anselmi acquired the company in 2012 and rereleased several of Stilnovo’s most celebrated pieces. Then in 2019, lighting giant Linea Light Group purchased Stilnovo and relaunched its classic designs with contemporary touches like LED lighting systems.

Find vintage Stilnovo chandeliers and pendants, wall lights, table lamps and other fixtures and furniture on 1stDibs.