Joe Colombo

JOE COLOMBO (Italy, 1930-1971) for Stilnovo.
Table lamp "Topo", 1970s.
Chromed metal.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 87 x 70 x 70 cm.

Desk lamp with articulated arm by means of ball joints, designed by Joe Colombo and edited by the Milanese lighting house Stilnovo around 1970. It is a lamp that combines simplicity and elegance.

Colombo was an industrial designer born in Milan. Before devoting himself to design (starting in the 1950s), he was a painter and sculptor. Some historians believe that it was Colombo who made Milan the capital of design. He designed flexible, compressed interiors with rooms that could vary in size and placement within a single floor. His futuristic vision led him to devise circular shelves that hang from the ceiling, glasses with an off-center foot so that wine and cigarettes could be held in the same hand. He believed in plastic as a modern, revolutionary and effective material. He began experimenting with new materials, such as reinforced plastic, and with novel construction techniques and manufacturing methods. His first design for Kartell was chair No. 4801 (1963-1964) in three pieces of plywood. Such a design inspired his later work with plastic, such as the Universale Chair No. 4860 (1965-1967), the first adult seat molded in injection molded plastic (ABS). He died at the age of 40 while preparing for a major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.