Table Lamp by Sergio Asti for Fontana Arte White Blown Glass

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About the Item

Sculptural and minimal table or floor lamp Daruma in opaline white blown glass by Fontana Arte 1960s Italy. It is the largest size of six of this model, composed of two elements. Inside it holds one bulb which is easy to replace.
The table lamp designed by Serigo Asti in 1963. It creates soft atmospheric light.
Timeless design exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.Creator: Fontana Arte (Manufacturer),Sergio Asti (Designer)Dimensions: Height: 16.93 in (43 cm)Diameter: 15.75 in (40 cm)Style: Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)Materials and Techniques: Blown Glass,Milk GlassPlace of Origin: ItalyPeriod: 1960-1969Date of Manufacture: 1963Condition: ExcellentWear consistent with age and use. Rewired: The lamp is rewired to British Standard with a silver textile braided flex and holds one E27 screw cap 40-60 W bulb.Seller Location: London, GBReference Number: 1stDibs: LU1001522128212Shop All Fontana Arte

Fontana Arte

Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents chiefly architects and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italys most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.

The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to todays Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the companys signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant a stratified hanging sphere.

The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesas designs for lighting as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Six years after Chiesas 1948 death, the cole des Beaux Artstrained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.

Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the companys artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulentis tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment creating objects that have never been less than daring.

Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.