Area Table Lamp (the highest and rarest) by Mario Bellini Artemide, Italy 1970s

The Area 50 table lamp, is a part of a series that includes table, floor, wall, and ceiling lamps, was crafted by Mario Bellini in 1974 for Artemide.

Bellini’s intention was not merely to fashion an object; instead, he aimed to distill these lamps into a synthesis of gesture and effect, aligning them with the intangible nature of light. This involved the gesture of twisting a translucent foil to guide and disperse the light, coupled with the effect created by the seemingly impossible alignment of the 48cm square foil and the five bulges that distort it.

The outcome is an exceptionally beautiful and distinctive lighting piece, born from the collaboration between one of Italy’s eminent architects, Mario Bellini, and the renowned producers, Artemide. Notably, the Area 50 lamp has earned its place in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, further attesting to its significance.

“The intangible nature of light led me, in a subsequent lamp, to move away from an attachment to bodies and objects and to reduce the lamp to a synthesis of ‘effect’ and ‘gesture’. The gesture of twisting a translucent foil just enough to direct and diffuse the right amount of light; and the effect, accentuated by the impossible coincidence of the square foil and the five bulges that deform it, of unpredictability reminiscing the sky and its clouds.” Mario Bellini.