O-Luce 626 Floor Lamp Design J. Colombo Metal 1970s

Designer: Joe Colombo

Joe Colombo was born in Milan in 1930. In the early 1950s he joined the nuclear painting group with Enrico Baj. He studies at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and at the Milan Polytechnic. In 1961, having abandoned the profession of sculptor and painter, he opened a design studio in Milan. In 1964, at the XIII Triennale di Milano he obtained the Gold Medal. He participates in the XIV Triennale di Milano, where in a space entirely dedicated to him, he exhibits new interior design proposals, including the famous programmable system for living. In 1963 he won the Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale with the acrylic table lamp. In 1967 he won the Compasso d'Oro Award for the Spider lamp. In 1968 he obtained the Design International Award in Chicago. In 1970 he won the Compasso d'Oro Award for an air conditioner produced by CANDY. In 1971 the Boby won the first prize at the SMAU in Milan.

Production: O-Luce

Founded in 1945 by Giuseppe Ostuni, master of art, Oluce is, in the lighting field, the oldest Italian design company still active. Before the world war, in fact, there was only Arteluce by Gino Sarfatti, which disappeared at the end of the 90s, Azucena and Lamperti were born in 1948, and Arredoluce and Stilnovo in 1950. However, it was above all Arteluce, Azucena and Oluce that focused, for many years, on the Italian panorama, establishing themselves as meeting centers for those designers who, strongly involved first with the reconstruction and then with the birth of mass production, animated the Milanese debate: Vittoriano Viganò and the BBPR, Gigi Caccia Dominioni and Ignazio Gardella, Marco Zanuso and finally Joe Colombo. Already in 1951 Oluce successfully participated in the IX Triennale. A great success was confirmed by Tito Agnoli with the mention of two lamps (the floor model 363 and a special model for bookcases) in the second edition of the Compasso d'Oro, in 1955. In 1956, two other reports followed in rapid sequence: for a very notable table lamp in polyvinyl with slats and for a pendant luminaire (mod. 4461) with double Perspex diffuser. Finally, it is essential to remember, in 1954, the 255/387 luminaire (called ''Agnoli''), a slender rod holding a spot, marking the end of lampshades and the adoption of very simplified floor lamps also in domestic lighting . Meanwhile, in 1963, in production since 1965, Marco Zanuso designed a forgotten masterpiece for Oluce, the model 275 table lamp with a large white Perspex diffuser that can be rotated on a lacquered metal base. In 1964/66, again from a material, the printed glass called ''Fresnel Lens'', with Joe Colombo, the family of ''Fresnel'' waterproof outdoor lamps with painted metal base and diffuser held by clips was born. 'steel. In 1967, however, Colombo was already further ahead and, with the ''Coupé'' model, preserved at the MoMA in New York, proposed a curved stem of considerable size to support a very elegant semi-cylindrical cap. In 1968, the Coupé won the ''International Design Award'' from the American Institute of Interior Designers in Chicago. Finally, in 1970, which went into production in 1972, one year after the premature death of Joe Colombo, the ''Halogen lamp'' was born, necessarily called ''Colombo'' ever since. In 2001, white Murano glass stones and cane rods transparent perspex populate the Oluce stand at Euroluce. Designed by Laudani&Romanelli and Ferdi Giardini, they propose a way of understanding design that goes beyond function to become poetry. Finally, Oki Sato, or Nendo, the most refined of the new Japanese designers, joins the Oluce team, first with ''Sorane'' and then with ''Switch''. But this is no longer the story of Oluce, but rather Oluce's contribution to contemporary design. -

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