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An Italian Mid Century Modern Arredoluce Zodiac Floor Lamp by Angelo Lelii

$12,250List Price

About the Item

A Rare Italian Mid-Century Modern "Zodiac" Floor Lamp designed by, Angelo Lelii and produced by, Arredoluce in the 1970s. This lamp is referred to as model 14102 in the catalogue and called Zodiac. The lamp is decorated with twelve polished steel plates set into a long cylindrical translucent white perspex diffuser which is electrified on the interior. set into its base. The lamp retains its original paper label. The top part does not illuminate and was never intended to. The lamp has been registered and documented in the Arredoluce Archives. The lamp retains its original paper label on the underside. Measurements: height: 70 in. x diameter: 7 in. Year: 1970s' Notes: A copy of the letter from the archives and its hologram sticker issued by the archives will accompany the lamp. This lamp has been documented and registered in the Arredoluce Archives, Italy, as number 2387624. Retains its original paper label. Identical Model sold at Phillips Auction - Design Sale - London - April 17th, 2017 - lot 133 Literature: An dentical model is photographed in the book by, A. Pansera, A. Padouan, A. Palmagjhini, "Arredoluce Catalogo Ragionato 1943- 1987," scheda 19, p. 280, Silvana Editoriale, 2018. Condition: The lamp is in very good condition. Some light wear to the base, and some very faint scratching to the perspex of where the steel plates rest. Overall does not detract from the lamp aesthetically. Please note that this item is vintage from the 70's and was used as it was intended to. All Mentioned for Accuracy. Biography: Angelo Lelii, aka “Lelli” (1911–1979) lighting designer, industrial artist, entrepreneur, and renowned Italian lighting designer Angelo Lelii was to become, little is known about his early history other than that he studied at ISIA (Superior Institute of Industrial Art) at the University of Decorative Arts in Monza, outside Milan. It was in Monza also where as early as 1939 he started working out of a small basement workshop, producing lamp and chandelier designs with clean lines, strong attention to detail, and utilizing the newest technologies. After having his work interrupted by the War, in 1946 three of his designs were featured in Domus Magazine. Founded by Gio Ponti, the magazine was now under the direction of architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, whose focus was on Italian designers and architects representing the new Functionalism. The featured Lelii designs included the "Tris" lamp in brass and cast iron, with three different adjustable joints. The publicity helped him launch his Monza-based company Arredoluce in 1947, where he continued his dedication to meticulously produced, modern functional lighting. In 1948 Arredoluce participated in the Milan VIII Triennale, displaying lamp model 12128, an elegant three-armed, standing lamp of lacquered aluminum in primary colors with adjustable light fittings. Often simply referred to as the “Triennale,” the lamp became a modern classic, having been also manufactured in the United States for the Raymor Corporation. Another standout Arredoluce design of the period was the aptly named “Stella” ceiling light (1950) with its starburst of multiple luminous spheres. Lelii’s influence through the post-war years proved a significant contribution to the Italian design renaissance. In the 1950s he collaborated with many other important designers, including Gio Ponti, Nanda Vigo, Mario Tedeschi, Franco Albini, Achille and Pier Castiglioni, and Ettore Sottsass, creating many table and floor lamps, sconces and chandeliers. Lelii encouraged his company workers to collaborate with the designers, resulting, for example, in the trademark Arredoluce floor switch. He also started his own distribution company, Prescolight, for exporting his products to the US, and was first to bring General Electric’s halogen bulb to Italy, creating a special transformer for it that would be used for many years to come. Arredoluce lighting fixtures were characterized by quality materials and execution - gracefully sculpted shapes, perfectly welded brass parts that appear seamless, and versatile adjustable mechanisms. Aesthetically, some of Lelii’s designs share influences with art of the period; his multi-armed lamps, for example, and Alexander Calder’s mobile sculptures. Lelii’s 1965 Cobra lamp (model 12919), which he famously first sketched on a paper towel, is unmistakably sculptural. Misattributed to Gio Ponti for some time, the lamp’s highly stylized cobra-hood shape has a futuristic look and was indeed design-forward in that it was one of the first lamps to utilize low voltage, with a transformer hidden in the base and an ocular globe that allows for a highly focused light beam. Also highly sculptural, the President lamp (1970) has 36 downward-inclined illuminated cylinders in an upright stainless-steel square, and can stand on its own as a piece of Op Art. Lelii’s Eyeball lamps from the 1960s were also remarkably forward-looking, anticipating the high-tech look of that emerged in the 70s. As Arredoluce director and designer, Lelii continued producing hundreds of artful lamp designs right up to his death in 1979. Having lived and worked in Monza the entire time, upon his demise Arredoluce closed after some thirty years. Already renowned at the time, his lighting collections have become even more sought-after since. Lelii is regarded now as one of the great figures in modernist lighting design, on par with his most successful contemporaries.

Creator:
Arredoluce (Maker),Angelo Lelii (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 70 in (177.8 cm)Diameter: 7 in (17.78 cm)
Power Source:
Plug-in
Voltage:
110-150v
Lampshade:
Included
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Acrylic,Chrome,Plastic,Steel
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1970s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. The Item is in Very Good Vintage Condition.
Seller Location:
Englewood, NJ
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU888845219382

Shop All Angelo Lelii

Angelo Lelii

Angelo Lelii’s energetic and imaginative floor lamps, sconces and chandeliers often reflected his singular personality — whimsical but practical. He is responsible for some of the most delightfully eye-pleasing but functional works in the history of Italian mid-century modern lighting design.

Lelii was born Paolo Angelo Lelii in the seaport town of Ancona and moved to Milan when he was quite young. Not much is known about his early life — online resources frequently have his last name misspelled “Lelli” — except that he studied at the Superior Institute of Industrial Art in nearby Monza.

While there was no shortage of pioneering work being done in the field of mid-century modern lighting design, Lelii was a visionary whose dream was to create technologically advanced lighting that embodied the simple lines of modern design but would be defined by his own imaginative twists. In 1943, Lelii opened his first workshop in a tiny basement in Monza, under the name Arredoluce. A few years later, he designed the single-light, bent-arm Tris floor lamp. Later that year, he exhibited his Triennale floor lamp at the Milan Triennale VIII and garnered wide acclaim. This iconic, slender lamp features three adjustable arms with enameled aluminum shades.

Lelii’s sculptural fixtures in brass and cast iron appeared in the acclaimed design journal Domus, and he embarked on high-profile collaborations with Italian modernist legends such as Gio Ponti — a giant of architecture and design as well as a founder of Domus — Memphis Group member Ettore Sottsass Jr. and the brothers Castiglioni (formally known as Achille, Pier Giacomo and Livio).

Massive success followed for Arredoluce from the late 1950s and into the 1960s. For Lelii, there was his seminal Stella ceiling lamp, featuring opaque, acid-etched glass globe shades; his minimalist Cobra table lamp, which was one of the world’s first low voltage light fixtures; and his aptly named Eye floor lamp. Lelii continued to oversee design and production at his revolutionary lighting firm until his death in 1979.

Find vintage Angelo Lelii lighting on 1stDibs.

Shop All Arredoluce

Arredoluce

The lighting company Arredoluce opened in 1943, at the start of a golden era of modernist Italian design, and was born of the confluence of an eager entrepreneurial business spirit and a fresh, innovative, forward-looking creative atmosphere.

Angelo Lelii (1911–79), the founder of Arredoluce, which was based in the Milanese district of Monza, was a gifted and at times brilliant designer. He had the insight to commission works from other greats of the day, including Gio Ponti, Vico Magistretti, the brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni and Ettore Sottsass Jr.

Lelii’s designs cover a broad aesthetic range. His most famous work, the Triennale floor lamp (circa 1947), is both elegant and practical, with three omnidirectional lighting booms attached to a central pole. His well-known ceiling light of 1954 — in which a conical canister bounces light upward off a lighting-arced enameled-aluminum sheet — is a piece of design poetry. And his 1962 Cobra table lamp has a wild, almost Surrealist look, featuring a sculptured rod of polished metal with a socket that, like his Eye floor lamp of the early 1960s, holds an eyeball-like directional bulb.

Arredoluce also placed few constraints on the creativity of the designers it employed from outside the company. The Castiglioni brothers’ Tubino table lamp of 1951, for example, is a remarkably early example of minimalist design. The company both fostered the tradition-minded aspect of Ponti’s sensibility and produced several of his experimental pieces in Lucite in the 1950s; and Sottsass’s UFO table lamp of 1957, a sandwich of two plastic bubbled tablets on four legs, prefigures the look of his postmodern works for the Memphis Group by more than 20 years.

From the stylish and utilitarian to the avant-garde, vintage Arredoluce floor lamps, table lamps, chandeliers and other lighting includes some of the most diverse, remarkable — and collectible — designs of the late 20th century.

Italian Floor Lamp by Angelo Lelli for Arredoluce

$4,000

H 79 in Dm 13 in

Italian Floor Lamp by Angelo Lelli for Arredoluce

By Angelo Lelii, Arredoluce

Located in Middlesex, NJ

Italian floor lamp by Angelo Lelli for Arredoluce.

Materials

Marble, Steel

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An Italian Mid Century Modern Arredoluce Zodiac Floor Lamp by Angelo Lelii

About the Item

Angelo Lelii

Arredoluce

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