FontanaArte - Daruma table lamp medium

On show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Daruma was produced in 1968 to a design by Sergio Asti. His table lamp has simple, formal features: a spherical vase topped by a little lid

Sergio Asti

After graduating in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, Sergio Asti opened his studio in 1953, qualifying as one of the first Italian industrial designers and one of the founding members of ADI (Association for Industrial Design). Many of the objects he designed are now part of the collections of prestigious Design Museums around the world. For FontanaArte he designed Daruma, a blown glass table lamp, in the catalogue since 1968. From the very beginning he has also been very active in the design of public and private buildings, interiors and fittings, including: the Fiat showroom (Milan, 1964), the FISI Presidency Offices (Milan, 1976), the fittings for numerous temporary exhibitions at the Triennale, La Rinascente and Eurodomus. He taught at the Istituto Superiore d'Arte in Venice and at the Istituto Sperimentale Superiore in Shizuoka, Japan.

FontanaArte

 Fontana Arte specializes in glass processing and the manufacture of furnishing accessories. Founded in 1881 in Milan by Luigi Fontana, it began as an industry producing glass sheets for building purposes. It had Giò Ponti, Pietro Chiesa and Max Ingrand as artistic directors. It gained notoriety especially for its processing of curved crystal and production of lighting applies. Lighting is also design; numerous brands make it possible to combine functionality with aesthetics, making lamps, wall sconces, and spotlights true pieces of furniture. Among them is FontanArte, which has marked the history of lighting design. In over than 80 years of activity, the brand has received numerous awards, including the Compasso d'oro Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, given by the ADI - Association for Industrial Design: "thanks to the collaboration with different designers, has been able to create a lively creative climate that has upgraded one of the historical names of Italian design.