Pendant Lamp with 5 Elements in Opaline Glass from Stilnovo, Italy, 1960s

Pendant lamp with structure in lacquered metal and brass and five diffusers in opaline glass.
This lamp was manufactured by the Italian company Stilnovo during the 1960s.

Stilnovo was an important lighting company founded by Bruno Gatta in 1946. Stilnovo is a significant part of the first wave of post-World War Italian design companies specializing in the production of innovative, functional lighting.
At its most productive between 1950 and the late 80s, Stilnovo worked with a number of Italy’s leading designers after Bruno Gatta, Danilo and Corrado Aroldi, Gaetano Sciolari, Alberto Fraser, Joe Colombo and Ettore Sottsass.

Coming at a time when the idea of function was combined with new types of materials to produce pared and texturally novel forms, it was an era of experimentation, where the neo-realism movement tussled with the philosophy of organicism, and where architects borrowed from, subverted and discarded the artisan based craft-art that had for centuries been Italy’s dominant creative force. Often compared favorably with Arteluce, which, under the guidance of Gino Sarfatti, explored abstract, lineal forms, Stilnovo is known for its well-executed organic lines. The Aroldi-designed 1967 Periscope desk lamp is a case in point. Exhibited at New York’s New Domestic Landscape 1968, its snake-like lines are tempered by its enamel finish, creating an effect that is both restrained and alive.