Design Icon: Artemide Tizio Lamp

Anatomy of a Classic

Richard Sapper 'Tizio Lamp' designed in 1972

Artemide

The award winning Artemide Tizio lamp by Richard Sapper is one of our favorite modern design classics.  As an icon of Italian design, the Tizio Lamp is included in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.  It is one of the most popular desk lamps ever made with hundreds of thousands sold worldwide!  Tizio was designed by the Italian industrial designer Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972.  The position and the direction of the bulb can be adjusted; thanks to the sophisticated principle of balanced counterweights. Adjusting it requires little effort. Another important feature is the lack of wires (the two parallel arms are used to conduct electricity to the bulb).  It is perhaps the most celebrated icon of modern lighting since it effortlessly blends function with style.

With the Tizio Lamp, Italian designer Richard Sapper succeeded in redesigning the traditional desk lamp, creating a task lamp that is completely adjustable.  The Artemide Tizio lamp features a very precise and intense yet small light source which makes it a perfect lamp for task lighting in the home or office.  After methodical experimentation, Richard Sapper came up with a ingenious design wherein the very form of the lamp enables its function.  It is often said that the inspiration for the Tizio Lamp came to Richard Sapper after having seen the design of a classic oil pumpjack (see above image).  Bu using a clever counterweight system, the adjustable arm of the Tizio can be manipulated into almost any position, allowing the user to direct the light source exactly where it is needed most.  The arms of the Tizio lamp themselves conduct electricity to the bulb, eliminating the need for extraneous wires and facilitating the precise balance of the arm. The lamp features a halogen bulb, marking one of the first uses of this type of light outside the automobile industry. Directed by its small reflector, the halogen bulb provides a highly concentrated, direct light source, which can be easily adjusted to suit the user.

Text and Image Credits: Richard Sapper, Artemide, Lucia Fontana for moderndesign.org

via

Art by Giacomo Balla

20th Century Italian Futurism

We love this brilliant art work by the Italian futurist painter Giacomo Balla who always signed his name as 'Futur Balla'. Giacomo Balla executed this oil on masonite in 1919 which is almost a century ago.  

It is titled 'Vele Mare' (Sea Sails).

via

Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta

Anatomy of a Classic
Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta
Designed by Pininfarina
Built by Sergio Scaglietti
1962

The Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta is one of the classic icons of Italian car styling. The Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta is perhaps Pininfarina's most revered designs of all time. The beautifully styled Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta was introduced at the 1962 Paris show. The Ferrari 250 GT sported flowing lines and a fastback shape typical of the GT cars of the mid-1960s. Rightly regarded as one of the most beautiful GT cars ever created, the 250 GT was the final iteration of Ferrari's celebrated 250 series. Popularly known as the Lusso (Italian for "luxury"), the new car drew instant acclaim for its curvaceous and perfectly proportioned Pininfarina design, which was hand built at Sergio Scaglietti’s workshop in Modena. Though it was conceived and marketed as a luxurious grand touring evolution of the renowned 250 short wheelbase berlinetta, the new model combined chassis elements of the celebrated race car with greater creature comforts, whilst retaining characteristic Ferrari performance. The elegant interior featured true bucket seats with leather upholstery and a unique instrument panel centred by two large dials for the rev counter and speedometer, which were angled towards the driver for optimal functionality. Only 350 examples of the Lusso were built over the model’s short two-year production run, and it remains one of the most admired and desirable Ferrari cars of all time. Steve McQueen was an absolute car nut (unlike his wife Neile) and owned two of these cars. He could often be found racing one of his Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta's through Los Angeles and the the
Palm Springs desert.

This exceptional Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta has the distinction of being the fourth to last car built, and therefore, is one of the very last of the legendary 250 series Ferraris, essentially marking the end of a golden era of Ferrari production, which included the iconic 250 GTO. As clarified by the research of marque historian Marcel Massini, this car was initially sold on 28 July 1964 to Francesco Di Benedetto, a Sicilian residing in Caltanissetta, Italy. Records reflect that Mr Di Benedetto returned the Lusso to the Ferrari Factory Assistenza Clienti in Modena twice over the next two years, dutifully servicing his cherished car. 

Text and Image Credits:

RM Auctions, Constantin Fischer, William Claxton and Lucia Fontana for moderndesign.org

Brooklyn Botanic Garden by Weiss/Manfredi

Brooklyn Botanic Garden by Weiss/Manfredi

The new visitor center for New York City's Brooklyn Botanic Garden
is conceived as an inhabitable topography defining a threshold between the
city and the garden. To provoke curiosity and interest in the world-class collection,
the new building will provide a legible point of arrival and orientation,
an interface between garden and city, culture and cultivation.

The design of the visitor center is seen as a seamless extension of the landscape.
Nested into an existing berm, the center is experienced as a three dimensional
continuation of the garden path system, framing a series of views into and through
the garden. Sited at Washington Avenue, the visitor center wanders from
the city into the garden, providing clear orientation and access to the
major precincts. The visitor center includes an orientation room, information lobby,
gift shop, exhibition gallery, cafe, and an elliptical events space.

Weiss/Manfredi Architects

Credits: Lucia Fontana for moderndesign.org, Weiss/Manfredi, Perry D. Slocum

Wittamer Pâtisserie in Brussels

Edible Art by Wittamer

Wittamer may very well be our favorite Pâtisserie in Europe after numerous samplings in cities like Antwerp, Vienna, Paris and Brussels. Paul and Myriam Wittamer are masters of their craft and create jewel-like and highly sophisticated chocolates, maroons and patisseries.  Wittamer is the official supplier to the Court of Belgium and member of the Relais Desserts Association.  But you don't need to be of royal descent to enjoy their delicacies.  Their Pâtisserie takes up a prominent spot at the Place du Grand Sablon,

which also happens to be the heart of the antiques district.

Text and Image Credits: 

Lucia Fontana and Luc Viatour for moderndesign.org and Wittamer

Wittamer

Place du Grand Sablon 6 

1000 Brussels 

Belgium 

+32 2 512 37 42 

wittamer@wittamer.com

Cord Floor Lamp

Cord Lamp by Design House Stockholm

We really like these clever new minimalist floor lamps!  Design House Stockholm's Cord Lamp is a unique modern floor lamp with a twist. Good design is about purity of form, and the Cord Lamp epitomizes this maxim to illuminating effect. The Swedish trio behind Form Us With Love, Jonas Pettersson, John Lofgren and Petrus Palmer, refined a standard floor lamp into something truly beautiful. With the Cord Lamp, all unnecessary distracting elements were removed and only the essential pure form remains. What remains is the textile cord which in return becomes the focus of the design. The textile cord transforms itself into a steel tube that holds aloft an oversized globe bulb, complete with dimmer and all. Instead of the usual snake's nest of winding cords, Cord Lamp stands surprisingly tall. The Cord Lamp is so striking you will want to spotlight one or more in your home or office. A new Scandinavian design classic!

via

Impressions of Sanremo Italy

Royal Hotel Sanremo Italy 

Impressions of Sanremo, the best kept secret along the Italian Riviera that feels like a time-capsule from the 1950s. Step back in time with the amazing Royal Hotel Sanremo, part of the Leading Hotels of the World. This grand-dame of Italian luxury hotels used to the one of the favorite hang outs for the jet-set and movie stars like Birgitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Gina Lollobrigida and Marcello Mastroianni. With a free-flowing sea-water swimming pool designed by Italian designer Gio Ponti, the Royal Hotel Sanremo is one of our favorite places to visit along the Riviera. A serious contender to The Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, especially when it comes to old school authenticity, something that is getting harder and harder to find along the Riviera.

Text and Image Credits: Lucia Fontana for moderndesign.org

Royal Hotel Sanremo

Kiki de Montparnasse

Kiki de Montparnasse and her rampant sexuality inspired countless artists in 1920s Paris including (but certainly not limited to) Man Ray and Fernand Leger. The stylish New York lingerie and lifestyle label Kiki de Montparnasse pays tribute to Kiki de Montparnasse's exuberance with a sensuous and sophisticated lingerie collections. Kiki de Montparnasse brings an air of provocative elegance which leaves a hint for the ever-important imagination.

Ultra Modern Mediterranean Dream House

Mediterranean Modern Dream House in Mallorca Spain

Atelier d'Architecture Bruno Erpicum and Partners

Perhaps the most exquisite house we can feature this year is Bruno Erpicum's new masterpiece in Mallorca Spain. Perched high upon a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, this ultra modern dream house offers the most amazing views. Set in the natural and untouched landscape along the coast line of Mallorca in Spain, this brilliant cliffhanger-of-a-house takes natural advantage of the sea breezes to keep it cool during the summer. On hot, calm days in the spring and summer, all your senses come alive as the smell of wild thyme and Mediterranean Pine trees waft down from the surrounding hills, the air is filled by the tinkling of the bells that hang from the neck of the sheep and goats, the Mediterranean Sea is never far away and the salty tang of it lingers on your tongue as you breathe and all around you is the silky caress of a warm breeze. 

In one hand I hold my Pastis 51 (admittedly so, it is perhaps a bit too French but it's pure perfection regardless) and in the other hand rests a sun tarnished copy of Peter Heater's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire'; a book I never quiet managed to finish back in New York. Chances are that this will be a most splendid holiday.  This most remarkable gem of a house was constructed by the Belgian architect:

 Bruno Erpicum

 Text and Image Credits: Lucia Fontana for moderndesign.org, Bruno Erpicum, Jean-Luc Laloux.