Ceiling Lamp "L’impiccato"
Manufactured by Artemide
Italy, 1978
Steel, Iron
Measurements
220 cm length, adjustable height
86,6 in lenght, adjustable height
Provenance
Private collection, Milano
Literature
La forma della funzione, in Design Habitat, settembre 1973
Designers d'oggi Vico Magistretti, in La rivista dell'arredamento Interni, ottobre 1978
F. Raggi, Designing as Robinson Crusoe, in Flare, maggio 1993
V. Magistretti, Appunti manoscritti, ottobre 2004
Beppe Finessi, Vico Magistretti, Mantova, Corraini 2003, pp./nn. 33
Vanni Pasca, Vico Magistretti. L'eleganza della ragione, Milano, Idea Books 1991, pp./nn. 73
Biography
Vico Magistretti (b. 1920, Milan) was one of the most influential architects and designers of the 20th century. Born into a family of architects, Magistretti graduated in the field in 1945. It was also in Milan where he developed his professional career, mainly focusing on architecture, urban planning and industrial design. Magistretti made history when he designed the “Eclisse” table lamp for Artemide, a piece composed of two spheres of different diameters, which can be darkened using a rotating cover. Magistretti's work is usually characterised by the use of simple lines and shapes.
Also, one of his most iconic designs is the “Atollo” lamp, a symbol of Italian design all over the world. The secret of this lamp lies in the geometric construction of its shapes: cone, cylinder and hemisphere form a luminous sculpture from which nothing can be removed and to which nothing can be added. The opportunity to reach as many people as possible and to offer affordable prices led him to explore all the possibilities of a new material at the time: plastic. A good example is the “Selene” chair, which he also designed for Artemide in 1969, recognised as the first design made from a single piece of moulded plastic, together with Verner Panton's Panton Chair. As happens in these cases, his democratising endeavour elevated him to the altars of design, and some of his pieces now reside in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
