Eclisse Lamp, Artemide
Vico Magistretti

12 February 2014

Eclisse, the moon in a room. This was the challenge taken on by Vico Magistretti, an architect with a rationalist training. A challenge met successfully thanks to an essential composition of geometric shapes. More precisely, a single hemisphere repeated three times: two vertical ones that turn on a central pivot, one inside the other, and a third horizontal one that functions as a base. The image is that of the lunar phases: from full moon to total eclipse, passing though the intermediate crescent stages. On the other hand, these were years in which people were talking of space travel and dreaming of landing on the moon. Designers responded with interiors free of divisions, with open-space layouts in which the functions of living were delegated to objects and pieces of furniture, and no longer to whole rooms. And the dream of a small light to guide free movements through the home became a reality, in 1966. Like that of a man on the moon, three years later. Manufacturer: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Fondazione Studio Museo Vico Magistretti.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Fondazione Studio Museo Vico Magistretti.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Fondazione Studio Museo Vico Magistretti.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Artemide.

Eclisse di Vico Magistretti per Artemide

Courtesy: Fondazione Studio Museo Vico Magistretti.


Domitilla Dardi

Torn between the history of art and the history of architecture, she came across design at the end of the last century and has not let go of it since. She loves to deal with everything that entails the use of ingredients, their choice, mixing and transformation: from writing to cooking, from knitting to design, from perfumes to colors. She is curator for design at the MAXXI and professor of the History of Design at the IED.


leave a note