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S
ET WITH the impossible task of covering Italian lighting in the one issue, instead, I’ve chosen to delve into the works of the one design genius – Gaetano Sciolari. It’s fair to say it’s not a name that trips off the tongue, and as a Vintage lover, you may not even have ever heard of him. But one look at his transformational chandelier-style light fittings and you’ll be shouting – “Oh him!” Italian lighting design has a rich and extensive history, with tradition and innovation being the twin engines that keep Italy ‘up there’ as one of the world leaders in lighting design. Sciolari Lighting in Rome boast that their customers have “for over a hundred years come to us to be enlightened” – but
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Light Fantastico GET SWITCHED ON TO GAETANO SCIOLARI – ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST STARS OF ITALIAN MID-CENTURY DESIGN. By Karyn Sparks it was their most famous scion Gaetano, who really notched things up Mid-century! As well as creating lighting for the family firm, the genius Italian was also in demand by other big lighting manufacturers, such as Stilnovo in Milan, and Lightolier in New York. As befits a designer in the 1950s, Gaetano’s first lights were Atomic-inspired pendants, but by the 60s he had shifted back to the grand manner of his native land, transforming the chandelier form with refined, edgy and futuristic execution. Lines were clean and sculptural, and materials such as crystals and ice-glass, combined sparkle with cool. As seen in the Neoclassical Sciolari, Gaetano’s inspiration may have been traditional but his invention was anything
but. He playfully positioned satin finishes against highly polished metal to wonderful visual effect, and he wasn’t afraid to break the rules – combining brass with chrome, for example, to bring out the very best in both metals. By the early 1970s, Americans hungry for Sciolari’s European style could find it in the catalogues of Lightolier and Progress Lighting; while his collections such as the Geometric, Habitat, Scultura and Futura, have been well-documented in the lighting and design books of top-notch German art publisher Taschen. Today, his lighting is highly sought after by interior designers who are looking to combine minimalism with high-end glamour – and Gaetano Sciolari certainly has it in abundance!
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A brutalist design for Lightolier, here the scientific helix is playfully adapted to create a geometric layered sculpture in polished chrome, brushed aluminium and glass. Fascinating viewed from any angle; the combination of materials adds further texture and depth. Ideal in any setting, from Modernist to Minimalist industrial to Art Deco
Gaetano’s brass chandelier for Lightolier incorporated chrome in an attractive sculptural form reflecting light and emphasising texture. Twelve vertical tubular brass columns alternating in height are intersected by chrome elliptical horizontal arms. There is also chrome detailing on the main vertical brass column, creating an illusion of orbital movement
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Gaetano Sciolari’s work looks great on TV. His huge Cubic chandeliers were the perfect choice for a futuristic scene in the 1970s series Space: 1999, while the more modest production model represented glamorous modern living in the 1980s oil-opera Dallas! Designed for Lightolier, the Modernist Cubic seems just as avantgarde today as when it was designed nearly 40 years ago. Brutalist in form, it’s far from harsh in situ. The quality chrome frame consists of polished chrome cubic rectangles attached by arches in brushed steel. Four arms spread outwards from the main section, each with four cuboids containing lights staggered at different heights; a further light at the bottom of the main column makes 17 lights in total. The textured clear Lucite shades pull out when you need to change the bulb
Lovely chrome and white chandelier from Gaetano’s Scultura collection for the company Lightolier. With an attractive sculptural combination of polished chrome vertical tubes connected by horizontal arches – the contrasting finishes beautifully reflect the light and emphasise texture
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Below: Gaetano often used a combination of brass and crystal in his Neoclassical lighting designs
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