Vico Magistretti Porsenna Table Lamp for Artemide, Italy
View Similar Items
Vico Magistretti Porsenna Table Lamp for Artemide, Italy
About the Item
- Creator:Vico Magistretti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 18.9 in (48 cm)Width: 20.48 in (52 cm)Depth: 11.03 in (28 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1977
- Condition:Rewired. Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: J015E1stDibs: LU1420231115372
Vico Magistretti
As one of the founding fathers of modern Italian design, prolific architect and industrial designer Ludovico Magistretti (known by his nickname Vico) was guided by his philosophy, “There is no excuse for bad design.” His architectural projects are widely revered, and an ingenious meld of form and function can be found in his stylish and deceptively simple table lamps, sofas, armchairs and other mid-century furnishings.
Born in Milan, Magistretti followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather (both architects) to study architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. At the outbreak of World War II, he fled to Switzerland, and it was there he met his role model and mentor, renowned humanist architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers. Magistretti was inspired by Rogers’s vision to revive postwar Italy, and they collaborated on several reconstruction projects. Among Magistretti’s first architectural designs is a “poetic” round church, which he created for the QT8, an experimental Milanese neighborhood.
When Magistretti returned to Milan in 1945, he worked at his father’s architectural firm. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that he expanded his talents into design while working with furniture artisans.
In the 1960s, Magistretti began his 30-year working relationship with famed entrepreneur Cesare Cassina of the Cassina furniture manufacturing company. In their design approach, the two men shared a vision of the relationship between modernity and tradition and enjoyed a close bond (Magistretti designed Cassina’s luxurious villa in 1965). However, their friendship was not without contention.
Legend has it that upon seeing the prototype for Magistretti’s Maralunga sofa, Cassina hated it so much that he punched it, breaking the back of the sofa, which crumpled into itself.
“Right, great, it looks perfect to me like that,” an unfazed Magistretti allegedly responded, and the Maralunga’s slumped, adjustable-height backrest was born. Incidentally, the Maralunga sofa won Italy’s Compasso d’Oro award as did his Eclisse lamp for Artemide and his Atollo lamp for Oluce.
Magistretti died in 2006, but his designs live on in galleries, museums and private residences and offices around the world.
Find a range of vintage Vico Magistretti furniture and lighting on 1stDibs.
- Richard Sapper ‘Tizio’ Table Lamp Artemide, Italy, 1972By Artemide, Richard SapperLocated in London, GBRichard Sapper (1932-2015) was born in German but worked in Italy, and his work brings together the best design principles of both nations. On one hand the ‘Tizio’ lamp possesses a northern European emphasis on functionalism. It was conceived as the ideal table lamp by its creator because of its wide range of movements, based on precisely calibrated counterweights at the end of each of the arms. On the other hand, it has a radically lithe profile and dusky, equipoised sense of style redolent of southern European sensibilities. It has become “an icon of high-tech design”, according to the MoMA where an example exhibited, and had its heyday as the lamp of choice for the design-conscious bright young things...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Harvey Guzzini Olympe Table Lamp for ED, Italy 1970sBy Harvey Guzzini, GuzziniLocated in London, GBLarge Olympe table lamp designed by Harvey Guzzini for ED, Italy 1970s. The demilune shade is particularly pleasing lit, a half moon of ambient light through semi-opaque acrylic. It ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAcrylic
- Pair of Harvey Guzzini Olympe Table Lamps for ED, Italy 1970sBy Harvey Guzzini, GuzziniLocated in London, GBLarge Olympe table lamp designed by Harvey Guzzini for ED, Italy 1970s. The demilune shade is particularly pleasing lit, a half moon of ambient light through semi-opaque acrylic. It ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAcrylic
- Gio Ponti Bilia Lamp for Fontana Arte, Italy 1970sBy Fontana Arte, Gio PontiLocated in London, GBGio Ponti (1881-1979) was a Milanese architect, industrial and furniture designer, artist and publisher. He was a pivotal figure in the Italian design and manufacturing industry founding Il Labirinto with Lancia, Buzzi, Marelli, Venini and Chiesa in order to produce high-quality furniture and objects. He also founded Domus magazine which helped contextualise and promote the work of Italian designers and manufacturers around the world. Throughout his career he designed many icons but is perhaps most known for the symbol of modern Milan, the Pirelli skyscraper, in 1956. His furniture has always drawn deeply from Italian traditions and given them a modern edge. This gorgeous lamp is a great example of that. Made from two elements, a textured green aluminium conical base which rises into a delicate opal...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
$7,464 Sale Price20% Off - Chromed table lamp for Habitat, UK 1990sBy Habitat InternationalLocated in London, GBA tall, chromed table lamp with fabric shade, embellished on the base with a sporadic engraved pattern of small crosses. Recently rewired and PAT tested to UK standards. Lamp in goo...Category
1990s British Table Lamps
MaterialsChrome
- Travertine Effect Table Lamp, US, 1970sLocated in London, GBA travertine effect/composite table lamp with a shallow tapered drum shade in linen. The base, which is not solid travertine, shows signs of wear, with some minor chips to the corne...Category
Vintage 1970s American Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsStone
- Table Lamps by Vico Magistretti for ArtemideBy Arteluce, Vico MagistrettiLocated in Los Angeles, CATwo table lamps by Vico Magistretti for Artemide. Designed and manufactured in Italy, 1968. Enameled metal, perspex. Original European cord. U.S. adaptor provided. Rewiring with U.S....Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
$3,600 / item - Dalu Table Lamp by Vico Magistretti for ArtemideBy Vico Magistretti, ArtemideLocated in London, GBThis rare table lamp was designed by Vico Magistretti for the Italian manufacture Artemide during the 1960s, it is one of 2 that we currently have in stock. The lamp is made from one main piece of white plastic. Dalù is one a wonderful expression of Magistretti’s design ethos and reflects his belief that beauty and everyday functionality should be equally important in the object. Vico Magistretti was born in Milan. He attended Parini High School before he enrolled in the Regio Politecnico Faculty of Architecture in Milan in the fall of 1939. In 1943-1944 he moved to Switzerland, where he attended several academic courses at the Champ Universitarie Italien in Lausanne. It was then that he spent time with Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who had a key influence on his intellectual education. In 1945 he returned to Milan, where he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Polytechnic University. He immediately started working for his father's company, the architect Piergiulio Magistretti, in via Conservatorio. The 1950s were a very busy and fruitful period for the young architect, who came up with many innovative ideas and very quickly became one of the most outstanding representatives of the third generation. Over the next few years he worked as a designer as well as an architect, creating furniture and objects that will always be classics of contemporary production. It was then that he was awarded the Golden Compass for the Eclisse lamp (1967).He then started working with important companies such as Artemide, Campeggi, Cassina, De Padova, Flou, Fontana Arte, Fritz Hansen, Kartell, Olivari, Oluce, Poggi, Schiffini Mobili Cucine and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna. His design works are in the permanent collection of MoMA - Museum of Modern Art in New York and in many other museums in America and Europe. In the field of architecture, it is worth mentioning his nomination as an honorary member of the Royal College of Art in London, where he was also a visiting professor. He also participated in exhibitions and conferences in Europe, Japan and the USA. Established in the 1960s, Artemide is one of the most famous lighting brands in the world. Known for its philosophy, The Human Light...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
MaterialsPlastic
- Telegono Table Lamp By Vico Magistretti for ArtemideBy Vico Magistretti, ArtemideLocated in Chicago, ILA ‘Telegono’ table lamp designed by Vico Magistretti for Artemide in the 1960s. This sculptural lamp has a curved cream acrylic base with a rotating white acrylic demilune shade. Whe...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAcrylic
- Eclisse Table Lamp by Vico Magistretti for ArtemideBy Vico Magistretti, ArtemideLocated in Byron Bay, NSWEclisse Table Lamp by Vico Magistretti for Artemide, 1967. This Eclipse table lamp designed by Vico Magistretti features a rotating inner white shade that eclipses the light source a...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Table Lamp Nemea Model by Vico Magistretti for ArtemideBy Vico Magistretti, ArtemideLocated in Milan, Italy"Simplicity is the most complicated thing in the world." Vico Magistretti Nemea is an "inverted lamp" that, as Magistretti said in an interview released to Modo in 1979, is perhaps ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Sixties Telegono Lamp by Vico Magistretti for Artemide, ItalyBy Artemide, Vico MagistrettiLocated in RHEEZERVEEN, OverijsselThe Telegono can be used as desk or table lamp. The black lamp is the only one available and has a built-in pen tray. The hood is adjustable.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAcrylic