GIO PONTI (1891-1979) & ANGELO LELLI

The present example is a rare variation of the Siluro [Torpedo] floor lamp originally exhibited by Gio Ponti at the XI Milan Triennale of 1957 and that subsequently entered limited production with Angelo Lelli’s manufacturing company, Arredoluce, to which the latter acted as design director. The three lighting designs exhibited were amongst Ponti’s first to utilise coloured acrylic shades, and were supported on thin, tubular metal supports to match the associated furnishings perfectly capturing the style of the 1950s to invoke a ‘planetary deep space’ iconography (op. cit. Bassi, p. 79). Of these three designs, the floor lamp capitalised upon the ambient luminescence provided by fluorescent tube lighting, a new medium that had already found appreciation with pioneering lighting designer Gino Sarfatti some years earlier. The elongated, tapering profile of the lamp references the aerodynamics of a projectile yet importantly also invokes the cherished form of the obelisk, a motif that remained persistent throughout Ponti’s oeuvre. Both the prototype and the normal production example of the Siluro featured an open frame of either chromed steel or brass that supported the paired acrylic shades, normally in a colour-combination of either black and white, or yellow and white. This example, by repute originally supplied to a client in New York around 1960, is fitted with shades of yellow and red to deliver dramatic luminescence, and
features a rocket-styled platform that reveals Lelli's influence. No other examples of this variation have been recorded, consequently this example, which retains the manufacturer’s transfer label, may be considered to be a unique, custom variation.