Lighting can transform a room to create a different sense of space. Today we are going to look back to meet the lamps that made history. Their design and colours changed the way we look at furniture and made us love design. Are you ready?
Simon Karkov. Norm 69 hanging light, 1969.
In 1969 Simon Karkov designed his futuristic lamp, which consists of 69 pieces. For many years the lamp was forgotten in a loft. Later, in 2001, a friend of the designer saw the fruitful collaboration between the team behind the start-up company Normann Copenhagen and Simon Karkov. Only then was this now classic design retrieved from the loft.
Simon Karkov explains: “I am constantly inspired by nature. Norm 69 is inspired by flowers and cones. Whenever I get an ideaI draw a sketch which is then transformed into a model. The model is then adjusted over a period of time until the final prototype can be done. Norm 69 nicely follows the Danish design tradition for lamp shades with its shielding of the bulb and the soft light”.
Gino Sarfatti, Lightolier Astral Model 4081 suspended ceiling lights, 1954.
‘Astral Skyrocket’ is an exceptionally fine vintage Sputnik chandelier composed by 24 slender tubular brass arms joined at a puck form central hub. This lamp was inspired in Italian design, but thanks to its satellite shape became famous around the world.
Ingo Mauer, Porca Miseria! Chandelier, 1994.
Ingo Maurer was born in 1932, and studied graphic design in Munich. In 1960 Maurer left Germany for the United States, where he worked in New York and San Francisco as a freelance graphic designer. In 1963, he moved back to Germany, and founded Design M.
The production of this piece is limited to just ten a year, as the construction of each lamp requires the effort of four people. The builders break plates with a hammer or simply drop them on the floor. The pieces, broken arbitrarily, determine the arrangement of the final design.
Achille Castiglioni, Taxacum 88 hanging light, 1988.
The Taraxacum 88, first released in 1988, was an international hit, winning plaudits from architects, interior designers and critics alike for its perfect fusion between form and function.
Designed by master Achille Castiglioni, this decorative hanging light features 20 pressed and polished aluminum equilateral triangles fitted with electrical sockets. The sockets are filled with 60 clear 25-watt globe lamps, invoking the bloom of a dandelion.
Guglielmo Berchicci, E.T.A. (Extra-Terrestrial Angel) Sat hanging light, 1997.
Born in Milano, graduated in architecture at the Polytechnic of Milano, Guglielmo Berchicci opened his studio in the ’90s in an old refurbished warehouse in zona Tortona, renowned for the design, photography and fashion studios and for the exhibit events during the Milano design week.
One of Berchicci’s most famous designs is E.T.A. collection. The Kundalini E.T.A. Sat is an organically shaped pendant lamp out of the E.T.A. series designed by Guglielmo Berchicci. One characteristic of the E.T.A. Sat is its lamp body being made completely out of ecological fibreglass.
Do you miss any other?