Some of the most exciting examples of mid-century design come from Italy and one field in which Italy excels in particular is glassmaking. The epicentre of Italian Glass manufacture is undoubtedly Murano, a collection of small islands close to Venice that has been a world renowned centre for glassmaking for centuries.
This gorgeous pair of table lamps comes from Mazzega one of the leading glass producers on Murano. Mazzega was a forward-looking company with links to some of the most innovative designers and artists in Europe. They are particularly well-known for their lamps and chandeliers.
These lamps date from around 1970 and would most likely have been designed by designhouse Venini founded by Paolo Venini (1895-1959), a leading Murano artist. Each consists of ten handmade, textured, glass elements that are suspended from a chromed steel base. The glass has the typical Italian combination of the smoked brown and an dark-ochre colour combination so characteristic for this period.
The lamps fit in well with the brutalist tradition at the time. The rough naturalistic texture of the glass appears to imitate the texture of tree bark something you also see in other designs across Europe for example in work designed by Geoffrey Baxter for British glass manufacturer Whitefriars. The chunky glass elements give a solid feel to the lamps and emphasise the versatility of the material.
The brutalist movement that swept the continent at that time made a conscious attempt to create a clear break with the past and tried to design objects with a different mindset where functionality and the honesty of the materials were central and unnecessary decoration was removed. It is always surprising how different designers interpreted these new ideals.
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