TO TURN A LAMP INTO AN ICON

In 1987, Michele De Lucchi launched the best-selling and award-winning lamp Tolomeo that he had designed the previous year, with the contribution of Giancarlo Fassina and Ernesto Gismondi from Artemide Research Center.

Inspired by traditional spring lamps, like the famous Naska Loris, its challenge was to combine an iconic and “domestic” shape with innovative technologies and materials, while being as versatile as possible. The name was decided only the night before it was presented at the Salone del Mobile; the designer thought that Tolomeo was the most suitable person to represent the lamp, because he was an astronomer, and a mathematician, with a strong scientific mentality.

The first table version, which won a Compasso d’oro Award in 1989, today is a recognized symbol of modernity and in the years it evolved into an infinite range of variants widespread in offices, hotels, homes, photographic settings, architects’ desks, and even in movie scenes. Indeed, one of the main reasons for its success is its incredible versatility; in different shapes and sizes, for tables, floor, ceiling, or walls it is a product that looks great both in traditional, classical environments and in innovative, avant-garde ones.