Huge Elliptical Wall Mirror by Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce, Italy, 1970s
View Similar Items
Huge Elliptical Wall Mirror by Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce, Italy, 1970s
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 64 in (162.56 cm)Width: 25 in (63.5 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Vienna, AT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU101523516642
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, Sarfatti's 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.
Find vintage Arteluce table lamps, chandeliers, floor lamps and other lighting on 1stDibs.
- Gino Sarfatti Style 6 Adjustable Pendant Lamps, Gebr. Cosack, Germany, 1970sBy Gino SarfattiLocated in Vienna, ATUp to six beautiful, identical, chrome-plated pendant lights from the 1970s. Adjustable by an integrated hinge. In the style of Gino Sarfatti. Executed in the 1970s by Gebrüder Cosa...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Chrome
- Cristal Arte Beautiful Oval Grey Mid-Century Wall Mirror, Italy, 1970sLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful double-levelled wall mirror from the 1970s, made in Italy by Cristal Arte / Crystal Arte. Oval mirror with a grey smoked rectangular backplate glass with rounded corners....Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsGlass, Mirror
- Huge Emil Stejnar Round Glass Blossoms Backlit Wall Mirror by Nikoll AustriaBy Rupert Nikoll, Emil StejnarLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful, 28 in diameter, round modernist wall mirror with background illumination, surrounded by lots of charming crystal glass blossoms (not plastic). Designed by Emil Stejnar i...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsMetal
- Ernst Palme Palwa Large Illuminated Flower Wall Mirror, Brass & Crystals, 1970sBy PalwaLocated in Vienna, ATA square handcrafted floral backlit wall mirror from the 1970s by Ernst Palme, manufactured by by Palwa (Palme & Walter), Germany. The frame is made of gold-plated brass, covered with jewel-like faceted crystal glass petals. Has ten light-sources. In excellent condition. Please see our matching sconces and chandeliers...Category
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsCrystal, Brass
$4,500 Sale Price30% Off - Round Bakalowits Backlit Wall Mirror with Huge Crystals, Austria, 1950sBy Bakalowits & SöhneLocated in Vienna, ATA beautiful round Mid-Century wall mirror with a frame covered with three rows of diamond-shaped faceted crystals. Designed and executed by Bakalowits & Sohne in the 1950s. Incre...Category
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsCrystal, Brass, Nickel
- Huge Franco Albini Oval Midcentury Rattan Bamboo Sunburst Wall Mirror, 1950sBy Franco Albini, BonacinaLocated in Vienna, ATA chic and iconic and large, oval "French Riviera" style wicker wall mirror from the 1950s by Franco Albini for Bonacina. Handmade in Italy, handwoven of bamboo and rattan. In very g...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Wall Mirrors
MaterialsBamboo, Wicker, Rattan, Mirror
- 20th Century Gino Sarfatti Lighting Wall Mirror mod. 51B for Arteluce, 70sBy Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Turin, TurinGino Sarfatti was an Italian designer and businessman born in 1912 in Venice. After studying aeronaval engineering in Genova, he founded the Arteluce company in 1939 in Milan. Its pu...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsAluminum
- Modernist Vintage Rectangular Brass Wall Mirror Floor Mirror 1970s ItalyLocated in Vienna, ATModernist vintage rectangular like floor mirror or wall mirror from brass Italy 1970s. An elegant and beautiful floor mirror or wall mirror with angular edges from brass in sleek sha...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsBrass
- Gino Sarfatti Attributed Round Illuminated Mirror, Italy, circa 1960By Gino Sarfatti, ArteluceLocated in Vienna, ATRare 26" Illuminating mirror with bevelled edges by Sarfatti for Arteluce, circa 1964 Backlit round mirror probably by Sarfatti for his own label. It's a very minimalistic bevelled ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsGlass, Mirror
- Modern Hollywood Regency Style Brass Full Length Mirror Wall Mirror, 1970s ItalyLocated in Vienna, ATHollywood Regency Style Modern vintage full length mirror or wall mirror from brass 1970s Italy. An amazing Hollywood Regency Style full l...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Hollywood Regency Floor Mirrors and Full-Lengt...
MaterialsBrass
- 1970s Monumental Rattan Wicker Sunburst Wall Floor Mirror PanelsBy McGuireLocated in Fort Lauderdale, FLThe rare set of rattan sunburst monumental floor or wall panel mirrors are packed with personality! Made in the 1970s, the mirrors suits the Bohemian / Scandi / Mid Century trends. E...Category
Vintage 1970s Philippine Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsRattan, Glass
- Midcentury Rectangular Mirror with Bamboo and Rattan Frame, Italy, 1970sLocated in Roma, ITStunning full lenght midcentury rectangular bamboo and woven wicker mirror. This gorgeous piece was designed in Italy during the 1970s. This sturdy mirror has a wonderful double f...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsBamboo, Cane, Rattan, Mirror, Wicker