Álvaro Siza Vieira for FontanaArte.

ÁLVARO SIZA VIEIRA (Matosinhos, Portugal, 1933) for FontanaArte.
“Falena” floor lamp, Italy, 1990s.
Anodized aluminum, steel, and a base with tempered glass circles.
In working condition. Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Bears the manufacturer’s stamp.
Measurements: 102 x 53 x 25 cm.
The Falena floor lamp was designed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira for the Italian firm FontanaArte in 1994. Conceived as a piece of great formal purity, it combines visual lightness with remarkable technical precision. Its chrome-plated metal structure supports an adjustable lamp head topped by two anodized aluminum diffuser fins—also adjustable—that allow the light to be directed and modulated with great versatility. The light source is protected by a sandblasted glass shade, producing indirect, soft, and controlled lighting. The Falena collection, comprising floor, table, and wall versions, is one of Álvaro Siza’s most representative lighting designs. It embodies the principles that characterize his architecture: formal refinement, compositional balance, and functionality.
Álvaro Siza studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Porto, where he earned his degree in 1966 and began working as a professor. In addition, Siza has served as a visiting professor at the universities of Lausanne, Pennsylvania, Bogotá, and Harvard. Among his most important works are the Casa de Cha Boa Nova Restaurant (1958); the Swimming Pools in Leça de Palmeira (1966); the Schlesisches Tor Housing Complex in Berlin (1988); the Barcelona Meteorological Center (1992); the Galician Center for Contemporary Art in Santiago (1993); the School of Architecture (1988); the church in Marco de Canaveses (1996); and the Serralves Foundation (1999) in Porto. Siza has been awarded, among others, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Gold Medal for Architecture, and the Alvar Aalto Foundation Gold Medal, all awarded in 1988; the Pritzker Prize in 1992, and the Praemium Imperiale in 1998.