Tolomeo Desk Lamp (1986)

The Tolomeo desk lamp was designed in 1986 by  Michele De Lucchi (pictured right) in collaboration with Giancarlo Fassina for the Italian lighting company Artemide.

At the time Giancarlo Fassina was in charge of Artemide’s technical department and played an integral role in the design of the technical aspects of the lamp. As a result Michele De Lucchi decided to share design attribution with him on the project.

The design consists of a heavy aluminium base supporting two straight aluminium arms and a reflector head which can swivel 360 degrees. The arms are held in place by steel tension cables connected to springs in constant tension hidden within the arms.

Primarily a task light, the Tolomeo Desk Lamp also provides a hint of ambient lighting through a small opening in the lamp head. Visual contrast is also created through the use of finishes with the base of the lamp having a polished finish whilst the reflector head and arms have a satin finish.

In 1989 the Tolomeo Desk Lamp won the Italian industrial design prize; Compasso d’Oro. (On an interesting side note the Castiglioni brothers contributed to the establishment of this design prize in 1954.)

As a result of its popularity the Tolomeo lamp has since come out in a number of versions including a floor lamp, fixed wall lamp and clip on lamp, all of which are still manufactured by Artemide today.

For more info on the Tolomeo lamp and Michele De Lucchi visit:

• artemide.com 
• micheledelucchi.com
• designdictionary.co.uk

Related Posts:

• A is for Aalto – Aalto Vase (1936)
• B is for Bertoia – Diamond Lounge (1950)
• C is for Castiglioni – Arco Floor Lamp (1962)

This is the third post in a series of 26 on modern design icons (inspired by the Alphabet of Design Classics Poster by Blue Ant Studios.)

Italian brothers Achille (1918-2002) (pictured right) and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (1913-1968) are considered one of the great innovative design partnerships in modern industrial design. Both studied architecture at Milan Polytechnic but due to the lack of architecture commissions in Italy immediately after WWII focused much of their attention to industrial design.

Arco Floor Lamp (1962)

The “Arco” is an iconic floor lamp designed in 1962 by  Achille and Peir Giacomo and can be found in many a modern lounge room throughout the world. Linking the qualities of both a floor lamp and a hanging lamp, the “Arco” satisfies the need for direct light on a table without having to be fixed to the ceiling.

The base of the lamp is carved from white marble and weighs approximately 65kg. Such a heavy base was required to achieve the 2.2m cantilever and marble was an economical choice at the time due to its abundance in Italy. A hole through the sides of the base serves two purposes –  a fixing point for the stainless steel stem and a space to insert a long object such as a broomstick so the lamp can be easily moved.

The arched stem is made of three pieces of stainless steel which can telescope into one another, enabling the light to be set at three different heights and concealing the wiring.

The lamp’s reflector is made of two pieces of aluminium: a perforated fixed dome and a swivelling ring for adjusting the direction of light.

The Arco floor lamp has been manufactured by the Italian lighting company, Flos since its founding in 1962.

For more info on the Arco lamp and Achille Castiglioni visit:

• www.flos.com
• www.achillecastiglioni.it
• www.designmuseum.org

Related Post:

• Alphabet of Design Classics Poster – Blue Ant Studios
• A is for Aalto – Aalto Vase (1936)
• B is for Bertoia – Diamond Lounge (1950)

The cork and porcelain have also both been chosen for their acoustically neutral properties -meaning, they don’t impart extra vibrations.

‘The objects that keep me sketching late into the night have always been tools for ephemeral experiences. These tools are exciting because they’re persistent, physical reminders of events that last only minutes. Their meaning becomes a dialog between my design and the user’s memories of tea sipped, music played, and the life experiences that these rituals recall.’ – Joey Roth

I love the connection of the cables to the speaker via the cork plug. There’s something really organic and natural about it yet it’s a detail you typically wouldn’t expect. The contrast between the unfinished birch, the gloss of the porcelain and the texture of the cork is also great.

The included amplifier is made from stainless steel sheet metal, with a cast iron base and paulownia volume slider. Aside from the electronic components, plastic is completely avoided in the system’s construction.

For more detailed information or to purchase a set of the Ceramic Speakers visit Joey Roth’s website.

This will be the first in a series of 26 posts on modern design icons – one for each letter of the  alphabet (inspired by the Alphabet of Design Classics Poster by Blue Ant Studios.)

Aalto Vase (1936)

The Aalto Vase (also known as the Savoy Vase) is a world famous piece of glassware created by the renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).

The vase was designed as an entry in a design competition for the Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory in 1936. As a result Aalto never made money with the vase, as the design belonged to the factory.

It also became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a range of custom furnishings and fixtures that were created by Aalto for the luxury Savoy restaurant in Helsinki that opened in 1937.

Aalto’s design for the vase was inspired by the clothes of a Sami woman with his first sketches for the vase playfully titled "Eskimo woman’s leather trousers".

Initial prototypes were created by Aalto by blowing glass in the  middle of a composition of wooden sticks stuck into the ground, letting the molten glass swell on only some sides and creating a wavy outline.

To this day the vase is still manufactured in a large range of colours and sizes at the iittala glass factory in Iittala, Finland.

For more information on the Aalto Vase check out the iittala website here.

Photo via Flickr: Joel Pirela

Related Post:

• Alphabet of Design Classics Poster – Blue Ant Studios

So to celebrate getting this far and to thank you – the readers who keep coming back I’m launching the My Design Fix Facebook Page and giving away two Pantone mugs (one Red 186C and one Orange 021C)

To enter head over to the My Design Fix Facebook Page, become a fan and post a comment that best describes the colour ‘Pantone Red 186C’. Below are some examples on the back of the tag. I’ll be randomly picking two winners on Wednesday November 18.

Update: The winners have now been drawn – Congratulations to Stephen Packer and Jason Wood. I’ll be sending a Pantone Mug to each of them shortly.

Well thanks to Whitbread Wilkinson, the designers of the Pantone Mugs, I can now enjoy a bit of Pantone colour goodness with every meal (and unlike an ex-girlfriend I’d be stoked to see them everyday!). The mugs, inspired by Pantone Colour charts, are glazed with a pattern resembling the iconic Pantone Colour Chip and colour reference number.

For more Pantone inspired products check out the Whitbread Wilkinson website here.

Above is a cool photo of a pantone colour chart I found at athenaemily.com and is available to download as a desktop background.

It’s never too early to get a little tacker into design!

Designed by Joel Pirela of Blue Ant Studio, the ‘Alphabet of Design Classics’ poster has many of my favourite designers and furniture pieces including Alvar Aalto’s Savoy Vase, the Eames DAX plastic armchair and the Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen. The colours look cool and I really love the detail of the silhouettes.

I’m sure it was originally designed with a child’s bedroom wall in mind but seriously, I think it would look just as good on my wall.

The Alphabet of Design Classics poster is available to order online at the Blue Ant Studio website here.

I saw this great desk accessory over at notcot the other week and haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Designed by New York City-based, O’Brian Muehleisen Architecture Studio, Place For Trace is a trace-paper and pen holder crafted from timber.

"The ubiquitous roll of trace has long adorned architects’ desks. As ours inevitably wound up in a drawer, only to succumb to marks and tearing, we had in our minds that there should be a better place for such an important tool. The result is Place for Trace." - OMAS

It comes in four timber finishes: Walnut, Cherry, Oak and Maple and is available online at Merchant 4. I just finished ordering one and I can’t wait to get it – MY DESK IS GOING TO LOOK SO RAD!

via notcot

“Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability.”

Visit the Objectified website at www.objectifiedfilm.com

I thought I’d introduce you to a little skull that sits proudly on my desk at work. The Papercraft Skull is a cut and folded paper skull designed by Noah Scalin as part of his Skull-A-Day project/blog.

This great design not only looks really cool but the jaw opens and closes via a tab that sticks out the back – no split pins are required at all.

If you want to make one for yourself you can download the pdf pattern from the Skull-A-Day blog here then print it onto paper/card, cut, fold, and glue (following the instructions) and there you have it – you’ve got yourself a cool paper skull.

Visit Skull-A-Day at www.skulladay.blogspot.com