The table lamp Saffo, designed by Angelo Mangiarotti for Artemide, represents an icon between Italian design of seventies. The name of the lamp derives from the Greek island where the poetess Sappho lived; the project combines some recurring themes in the work of Angelo Mangiarotti: the wise use of glass and the sculptural form in a mushroom. It consists of a very simple chromed metal ring base that supports the diffuser, made of mouth-blown Murano glass to create striking interactions with light. The white surface of the diffuser has an appropriately nuanced light gradation that allows you to hide the light source and constantly include it to orient the beam upwards. The effect is perfect for an atmospheric lamp, with the emission of a soft light that enhances the material characteristics of the glass. /
Le fabbrieche del design, G. Gramigna, Ed. alberto Alessandr & C. page 39, Year 1967
Angelo Mangiarotti (1921-2012) was born in Milan, where he graduated in Architecture from the Politecnico. In the early 1950s, he worked in the United States and during this period, he met Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe, and Konrad Wachsmann. He was an architect, designer, and urban planner, and it was his architecture related to infrastructure, urban planning, and structural engineering that made him one of the most influential designers of the 20th century and among the most significant figures in industrial design. Industrial design, influenced by sculpture, was indeed for Mangiarotti an expression of the craftsman's skill on the material, never at the expense of function. His design work and collaborations with many important companies in the Italian furniture industry, such as Cassina, Zanotta, Bernini, Knoll, Agape, it was marked by numerous awards in the field of design. He was one of the founders of ADI (Association for Industrial Design), characterized by a vision of architecture and design as a practical, sober, and functional art.