Luciano Baldessari (1896 – 1982) Italian Designer

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Luminator Floor Lamp by Luciano Baldessari for Codiceicona

Luciano Baldessari (1896 – 1982) was an Italian designer. He was born in Rovereto (then Hapsburg Empire).

Education

He studied at the Politecnico di Milano until 1922.

Biography

As a young man, he collaborated with Futurist artist Fortunato Depero: in the 1920s, he made theatrical sets and was a painter. His widely published 1929 Luminator torchère was one of the few Rationalist furniture or lighting designs produced in Italy: inspired by German experimental work, it was intended to be an abstraction of an illuminated mannequin, with the curved tubular steel representing arms: foreshadowing later light sculptures.’ As an architect, Baldessari created the offices of De Angeli Frua (together with FIGINI and POLLINI). It was one of the most unpredictable manifestations of Italian Rationalism. In Milan, he designed the 1929-32 De Angeli Frua Press building (alongside Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini): 1930 Craja bar, Piazza P. Ferrari, Milan: Cima chocolate manufacture, 1932-33 (with Gio Ponti). Vesta Pavilion, Milan, 1933 (V) Milan Triennale: 1951 (IX) 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 Triennale International Trade Fair, Breda Pavilion.

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Bar Craja rationalist space

Bar Craja in Milan was the first ‘rationalist’ space in Milan and was designed by Luciano Baldessari and Gino Pollini. It was an oasis in Italy in the 1930s and was tuned in to the rest of Europe across the Alps. It was part of the same avant-garde scene of the Brera Academy, and the in-crowd sat down according to a fixed seating arrangement. (Cafes and Bars, 2007)

Recognition

His 1929 Luminator torchère was created for the Barnocchi display at the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona.

Cafes and Bars: The Architecture of Public Display. (2007). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

European Design Festival Awards

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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    After experience with a concrete contractor, he set up his firm in Bologna in 1923. His first structure was a 1927 cinema in Naples: His first important work was the 1930-32 Communal Stadium in Florence, widely published as an early example of Modern architecture. Read More →


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  • Federico Carandini – Italian Industrial and furniture designer

    Federico Carandini – Italian Industrial and furniture designer

    Carandini is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the modern furniture industry. He is skilled in Strategy, Branding, Line Development, Design Management, Concept Development and Production Management. Strong arts and design professional with a BFA with university honours focused in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University.Read More →


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  • Carlo Guiliano (1831 – 1895) Italian Goldsmith and Jeweller

    Carlo Guiliano (1831 – 1895) Italian Goldsmith and Jeweller

    Carlo Guiliano was an Italian jeweller and goldsmith who was born in Naples and worked in London. In 1860, Guiliano settled in London and worked for Harry Emanuel. He collaborated with Castellani Italian Jewellers on at least one piece of jewellery. In the archaeological or Etruscan style, he was a talented jeweller. He developed his…


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  • Andrea Branzi (b.1938) Italian furniture designer

    Andrea Branzi (b.1938) Italian furniture designer

    His theoretical furniture is well-known. He formed Archizoom Associati, an avant-garde group in Florence, in 1966 (with Paolo Deganello and others) that brought the irony of 1960s Anti-Design to furniture design.Read More →


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  • Elio Martinelli (1922 – 2004) Italian Lighting Designer

    Elio Martinelli (1922 – 2004) Italian Lighting Designer

    He and others founded a lighting company in 1942. In 1956, he founded the lighting firm Martinelli Luce in Lucca, designing plastics and metal and producing a perspex hanging lamp published in La Rivista dell’ Arredamento.Read More →


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  • Carlo Bugatti (1855-1940) Italian designer and furniture maker

    Carlo Bugatti (1855-1940) Italian designer and furniture maker

    Carlo Bugatti was a leading figure in Italy’s design and decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bugatti is perhaps best known for his exotic, handmade furniture designs. Many of the 19th century’s progressive developments, notably the British Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau, influenced his work. Read More →


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  • Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020 ) Italian architect, designer, design historian

    Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020 ) Italian architect, designer, design historian

    Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020) was an important Italian architect, designer, design historian, theorist and critic, Gregotti was the editor of several leading Italian design journals. He graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1952. He spent his lifetime working in the field as a practitioner, academic, and writer.Read More →


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  • Bruno Gecchelin (b.1939) Italian Architect-Designer

    Bruno Gecchelin (b.1939) Italian Architect-Designer

    Beginning his professional career in 1962, he worked for many major firms; designed lighting for O-Luce, furniture for Busnelli and Frau, refrigerators and gas stoves for Indesit, glassware for Venini, items for Skipper and Fratelli Guzzini, 1989 Atelier 75 range of four kitchen utensils, and 1987—88 Shuttle range of track lighting. Read More →


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  • Ignazio Gardella (1905 – 1999) Italian Architect-Designer

    Ignazio Gardella (1905 – 1999) Italian Architect-Designer

    Ignazio Gardella began working on architectural projects in Alessandria in 1929, including the Dispensario Antitubercolare (1929-1930), which is regarded as an example of Italian Rationalism, and the Laboratorio Provinciale di Igiene. He was laying the groundwork for his future career as an architect.Read More →


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  • Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) Italian designer and architect

    Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) Italian designer and architect

    Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) was an Italian architect. He was born and professionally active in Milan. He is considered by many to be the greatest Italian architect of the second half of the 20th century. His life as an architect began with Gardella and Zanuso. Read More →


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  • Mezzadro Chair – a nod to Italian Agriculture

    Mezzadro Chair – a nod to Italian Agriculture

    Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni were not the first twentieth-century designers to consider the tractor seat in relation to sophisticated furniture production: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe used it for the Conchoidal chairs he conceived during the early 1940s. Read More →


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  • Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith

    Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith

    Sabbatini worked as a silversmith from a very early age.  He learned metalworking techniques and became interested in shapes derived from natural materials.  The Boule teapot and example of his early work was designed for T. Wolff in Germany.Read More →


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  • Patrizia Ranzo Italian architect and designer

    Patrizia Ranzo Italian architect and designer

    Patrizia Ranzo is an Italian architect and designer. She was born and active in Naples. She studied architecture in Naples to 1981. Read More →


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  • Cini Boeri Italian Furniture & Industrial Designer

    Cini Boeri Italian Furniture & Industrial Designer

    She worked as an interior and furniture designer in the studio of Marco Zanuso, Milan, 1952—63. In 1963, she set up her studio, specializing in civil and interior architecture and industrial design. She was associated with ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale). In 1979, she formed Cini Boeri Associati, Milan. Read More →


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  • Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) Italian Glassware Designer

    Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) Italian Glassware Designer

    Murano glassware was historically decorated with opulent rubies and gold and fanciful forms in vibrant colours. He hired freelance designers like Martinuzzi and Fulvio Bianconi regularly. Gio Ponti from 1927, Carlo Scarpa from 1932, Eugene Berman from 1951, Ken Scott from 1951, Franco Albini from 1954, and Massimo Vignelli from 1956 were the designers he…


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  • Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos

    Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos

    Massimo Vignelli and his wife Leila, an architect, were considered a husband and wife team credited with introducing restrained, European fashion and taste in America in the 1970s.Read More →


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  • Adalberto Dal Lago (b.1937) – Italian Architect and designer

    Adalberto Dal Lago (b.1937) – Italian Architect and designer

    Adalberto Dal Lago is an Italian architect and designer: born and active Milan. He was an assistant, Facolta di Architettura, Politecnico di Milano from 1964-70 and subsequently chair of interior design and then of the elements of composition. He published books on design and Modern architecture. The European Council commissioned him and architect Marco Zanus…


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  • Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect and designer

    Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect and designer

    Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect based in Milan. She distinguishes herself by her original designs of items and furniture for the finest and most significant international companies. She created the Maia series, one of her most typical works for Kettal, the designer of some of the most emblematic pieces of today’s selection. AD Design…


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  • Piero Polato (b.1936) Italian Industrial Designer

    Piero Polato (b.1936) Italian Industrial Designer

    At ISIA, Urbano, Polato taught metallurgy. He wrote books about design education. Saiet, Avancart, Pellizzari, RAI, Televisione Svizzera Italiana, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Franco Rosso International, Fratelli Coppola, Furla, Mursia Editore, Robots, Zucchi, Il Bustese, and Muncherner Ruck were among his clientele. He was an ADI member (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale).Read More →


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  • Carlo Mollino (1905 – 1973) Italian architect and designer

    Carlo Mollino (1905 – 1973) Italian architect and designer

    Today, Carlo Mollino seems just as important as when he was alive. The designer left his mark on the world of industrial design of the 20th century through one of a kind objects, incorporating new techniques and materials produced rather than batch productions in the form of collector’s items.Read More →


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  • Alfredo Simonit (b.1937) – Italian furniture designer

    Alfredo Simonit (b.1937) – Italian furniture designer

    Alfredo Simonit is an Italian designer. He was born in Romans d ‘Isonzo. Professionally active S. Giovanni al Natisone. Read More →


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  • Gaetano Pesce (b.1939 ) Italian architect, designer and sculptor

    Gaetano Pesce (b.1939 ) Italian architect, designer and sculptor

    He established an office in Padua, where he became a founding member of Gruppo N in 1959. He experimented with programmed art and collaborated with Gruppo Zero in Germany, Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel in Paris (then known as Motus), and Gruppo T in Milan. Read More →


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  • Emilio Pucci (1914 – 1992) Italian fashion designer

    Emilio Pucci (1914 – 1992) Italian fashion designer

    A leading figure in Italian fashion in the 1950s and 1960s, Pucci studied for a year at the University of Milan. In 1935 he travelled to the United States where he also studied, returning to the University of FlorenceRead More →


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  • Marcello Minale (1938 – 2000) Italian designer

    Marcello Minale (1938 – 2000) Italian designer

    He worked as a designer at the Finnish advertising agency Taucker and as an art director at Mackkinointi Uiherjuuri. He was the design director at the Young and Rubicam advertising agency in London until 1964. He founded a design firm with Brian Tattersfield in 1964. Read More →


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  • Giancarlo Pozzi (1924 – ) Italian Industrial Designer

    Giancarlo Pozzi (1924 – ) Italian Industrial Designer

    Pozzi’s professional career began in 1950. He worked with architect Alberto Rosselli from 1963 to 1967. From 1970 to 1974, he collaborated with Achile Castiglioni and the Ponti/Fornaroli/Rosselli Studio.Read More →


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  • The Wit and Humour of the Gibigiana Table Lamp

    The Wit and Humour of the Gibigiana Table Lamp

    Castiglioni’s approach to design is characterised by wit and humour, which is portrayed here by a shape that resembles an animal or bird. The Gibigiana is a table light that may be adjusted. It includes a dimmer and produces reflected light. Read More →


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  • ‘The New Domestic Landscape’ – MoMA’s ambitious design show 1972

    ‘The New Domestic Landscape’ – MoMA’s ambitious design show 1972

    THE NEW DOMESTIC LANDSCAPE was one of The Museum of Modern Art’s most ambitious design shows.  The exhibition, directed and built by Emilio Ambasz, Curator of Design in the Museum’s Department of Architecture and Design, focused on current design trends in Italy with 180 items for everyday use and 11 environments commissioned by the Museum.Read More…


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  • Flavio Conti Italian architect and designer

    Flavio Conti Italian architect and designer

    Flavio Conti is an Italian architect and designer; born Legnago, Verona; active Milan.  He studied architecture, Politecnico di Milano toRead More →


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  • Michele Provinciali (1921 – 2009) Italian Industrial Designer

    Michele Provinciali (1921 – 2009) Italian Industrial Designer

    He received the ADI’s Compasso d’Oro Award for his career in 2008. Michele Provinciali provides an alternative trend to the late rationalist approach typical of the postwar period in every art form. He is expressive, poetic, experimental, abnormal, and refined in every art form.Read More →


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  • Luigi Massoni (b.1930) Italian Industrial Designer

    Luigi Massoni (b.1930) Italian Industrial Designer

    After a period of training at the Collettivo di Architettura in Milan and his first professional experiences between 1953 and 1955, he began his design career by making the cocktail shaker (1957, with Carlo Mazzeri) and the Serie 5 containers, which are still in production, for AlessiRead More →


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