Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Aluminum, Brass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Glass, Plastic
1990s Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1990s Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Blown Glass, Milk Glass
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1950s European Bauhaus Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Steel, Brass
Early 2000s Italian Brutalist Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Crystal, Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Aluminum, Metal
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Brass
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1940s Italian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Crystal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1950s Other Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Crystal, Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass, Metal
1960s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Brass
20th Century Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Chrome, Nickel, Metal, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
Early 2000s Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Steel
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Concrete, Brass, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal, Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass, Nickel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Carrara Marble, Chrome
1990s Italian Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Metal