Postmodern Italian Model Pao Sconce by Matteo Thun for Arteluce, 1990s

About This Piece

Vintage Design

The wall lamps version of the Pao series of lamps by Matteo Thun.

The Pao lamps impress with their characteristic diffuser of frosted glass. However, it is rather the material combination of glass and wood that makes these lights look so elegant. The cherry wood shaft harmonizes perfectly with the white glass and metal parts of the lamp. Pao lamps are unfortunately no longer produced and are accordingly rare.

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Creator	Matteo Thun
Manufacturer	Arteluce
Design Period	1990 to 1999
Year
Production Period	1990 to 1999
Country of Manufacture	Italy
Identifying Marks	This piece has an attribution mark
Style	Design Classics, Postmodern
Detailed Condition	Very Good — This vintage item has no defects, but it may show slight traces of use.
	A professional electrician has confirmed this piece is in working order.
Restoration and Damage Details	Light wear consistent with age and use, Patina consistent with age and use
Product Code	UAH-892643
Materials	Cherry, Glass
Color	White, brown, silver
Width	34 cm 13.4 inch
Depth	23 cm 9.1 inch
Height	25 cm 9.8 inch
Duties Notice	Import duty is not included in the prices you see online. You may have to pay import duties upon receipt of your order.

Shipping & Delivery

Ships from	Germany
Duties Notice	Import duty is not included in the prices you see online. You may have to pay import duties upon receipt of your order.
Returns	Returns accepted within 14 days of delivery, except for Made-to-order items

Delivery Details

Delivery will be completed by a parcel service such as UPS, DHL, or FedEx.
You will receive a tracking number to monitor the status of your shipment.
Delivery will take place between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
A wooden crate may be used for intercontinental shipments for maximum protection.
Item will be left in its packaging after delivery.
A signature will be required upon delivery.

*Important Note

Please examine the packaging upon delivery. In the event that there are visible signs of damaged packaging, please indicate the problem on the Delivery Note, take pictures, and—if the item inside shows damages—contact us within 48 hours of delivery. A signed delivery receipt without notations regarding damaged packaging represents your acceptance of the completed order in perfect condition.

About the Creator

Matteo Thun

Architect-designer Matteo Thun was born in Bolzano in 1952. He studied at the Salzburg Academy with Oskar Kokoschka and at the University of Florence. After meeting Ettore Sottsass, he was invited to become a cofounder of the Memphis group in Milan, and was a partner at Sottsass Associati from 1980 to 1984. He was a professor of design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1983 to 2000. In 1984, he opened his own studio in Milan. Between 1990 and 1993, Thun was also the art director at the Swatch watch company.

In 2001, Thun joined forces with Luca Colombo, Herbert Rathmaier, and Antonio Rodriguez to found Matteo Thun & Partners in Milan. The company was later organized into the companies MTLC, MTDR, and Matteo Thun & Partners China. These various creative entities develop projects in the architectural, interior design, and product design arenas. Cumulatively, they employ approximately 60 professionals, including architects, designers, and graphic designers.

Thun has worked with numerous brands, including Artemide, Fontana Arte, Missoni, Porsche, Philips Electronics, Driade, and Zucchetti. Notable projects include, among many others, the iconic illy Espresso Cup (1991), the playful Chad and Rara Avis teapots for Memphis (both 1982), and the interior design of Hamburg’s Side Hotel, one of the first design hotels in the world, which won the Hotel des Jahres award in 2001. Thun and his studio have received several other honors as well, including, but not limited to: Red Dot Awards for Product Design for the Zucchetti Isy System (2002), the Porsche Design Store (2006), and Wood & Laminate Edition 1 (2009); multiple Good Design Awards (2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013); Wallpaper Design Awards for Vigilius Mountain Resort interiors (2004), TVS Terra Cookware (2010), and Rapsel Ofurò Bath (2010); an ICFF Editors Award for Rapsel Il bango che non c'è (2009); and a Compasso d’Oro for the Girly System (2004).

About the Maker

Arteluce

Italian lighting design company Arteluce was established in 1939 by the young Venetian designer-entrepreneur Gino Sarfatti. Political upheaval at the time forced Sarfatti to abandon his aeronautical engineering degree in Genoa and move with his family to Milan. There, despite a lack of formal design training, Sarfatti embarked on a lighting career. Yet it is arguably because he was wholly self-taught that Sarfatti immersed himself in the full lifecycle of the design process, from conception to production, collaborating with artisans and architects to create stronger, lighter, and cheaper modernist lamps than Italy has seen before.

During the Second World War, Sarfatti fled to Switzerland, returning to Milan after the war to restart his company. In 1951, Arteluce’s first retail outlet opened on the bustling Corso Vittorio in central Milan (now named Corso Matteotti). The shop was re-designed by Marco Zanuso in 1953. Arteluce's second outlet, located on the glamorous Via della Spiga, was designed by Sarfatti's lifelong friend and fellow lighting designer Vittoriano Viganò in 1961.

Arteluce quickly established itself as a successful and visionary lighting brand thanks to Sarfatti’s commitment to technical, material, and production research. He designed over 400 lamps in his lifetime (though some sources say it was as many as 700), which are celebrated for their minimalist yet expressive aesthetic and experimental materials. In the mid-1950s, he began to work with Plexiglas, and, in the early 1970s, he pioneered the use of halogen bulbs into fixtures. Sarfatti also dedicated himself to improving every single element of a light fitting, from the switch to the wiring and the reflectors. The ultra-minimal Model 1063 (1954) would influence Italian floor lamp design for years to come. It was awarded the prestigious “Grand Prix” at the Milan Triennale and is known as the most eloquent example of Sarfatti's purist vision of beauty in everyday objects. In the same year, Arteluce was awarded the ADI Compasso d’Oro for the Model 559 and again the following year for the Model 1055.

In the 1960s, Arteluce became a creative hub for Italy’s most talented designers, producing designs by major talents, such as Franco Albini, Cini Boeri, Franca Helg, Ico Parisi, and Massimo Vignelli. The lighting installation for the Teatro Regio opera house in Turin—one of Arteluce's last projects, which comprised hundreds of pendant plexiglas tubes installed under the direction of legendary architect Carlo Mollino in 1972—is considered one of the company's greatest achievements.

In 1973, Sarfatti sold his business to Flos and retired to Lake Como. Many Arteluce creations are still in production today, and several original models are housed permanently in important museums like MoMA in New York. Somewhat forgotten after merging with Flos, Sarfatti’s designs are experiencing a renaissance amongst vintage collectors following the first retrospective exhibition of his work at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan in 2012.

* Images courtesy of Flos