Tell me the kind of reader you are and I’ll tell you which reading lamp to choose.
Booklovers know all too well that the best reading lamps are the ones which guarantee direct and confined, yet not blinding, lighting. With the right light, we can perfect those moments when we take a break from the chaos, take a step back from our hyper-digitalized world, and get lost in the pages of a book. Obviously, all of us have our own tastes and rituals. There are those of us who find the perfect atmosphere in a corner of a living room or study; there are those who strictly read novels in bed before falling asleep; there are those who need a well-lit desk and comfortable chair to read the newspaper; and there those who go for an armchair or daybed in low light and take that pleasant risk of dozing off half-way through the chapter.
Oluce, lighting books since 1945
Among all the reading lamps, today we wanted to take a look at the floor lamps by Oluce, the historic company founded in Milan in 1945. Ever since its early days, Oluce has produced lamps which went on to become icons and were designed by the greats of Italian and international design. The common denominator among all of them is the expressive power of their forms and Oluce’s capacity to enclose the evocative power of light into functional and refined objects. Anyone can find a piece among the company’s vast, award-winning work. However, in order to limit our scope, we have decided to focus on six floor lamps and two wall lamps: eight models which are perfect for lighting the reading area.
Parallel Lamp
Let’s start with one of Oluce’s new releases. Parallel is a floor lamp made up of a solid lateral stem created with two metallic parallel plates and a cylindrical lamp shade covered in hammered leather. This unexpected material paired with minimalist lines is what gives Parallel its striking look. Geometric, modern, and refined, this reading lamp is able to be placed in various spaces.
We also spoke about it here.
Spider Lamp
Designed by Joe Colombo in 1965 by starting from a special horizontal spot lamp, Spider has a lighting body mounted on a stem thanks to a melamine joint. The Spider series of lamps gave Oluce its first Compasso d’Oro in 1967 and in 1972 it went to New York for the “Italy: the New Domestic Landscape” exhibition: a jet-setting lamp!
G.O. Lamp
G.O. stands for Giuseppe Ostuni. He designed this model in the Sixties and today it has been reissued. Vintage yet contemporary, it has a vertical stem and a horizontal arm on which the cylindrical lamp shade gets mounted. The horizontal arm is jointed, sliding, and repositionable: an adjustable reading lamp in Sixties’ furniture style. The G.O. reissue has refined finishes and details which pay homage to the past, as for example with the satin gold which stands out in contrast with the black nickel.
Our focus on G.O.
1953 Lamp
On the 1953 lamp, designed by Ostuni & Forti, the lamp shade moves from the center of the stem to the side, like the classic abat-jour. 1953 is a decorative yet minimalist and timeless object which stands out for its classic cylindrical form and the fine contrast of the satin gold (stem and lamp shade interior) with its black (exterior of the lamp shade, base, and handle). We have also written about 1953 here.
Amanita Lamp
The Amanita reading lamp designed by Mariana Pellegrino Soto can be simply described as having two discs, a thinner one which acts as a base and a thicker one which holds the LED light, which are connected by an oblique and slim stem. Its design is perfect for its simplicity, proportions, lightness, and fascinating “Z” shape.
Alba Lamp
Another one of Mariana Pellegrino Soto’s designs has been included in our best reading lamps. Alba’s inspiration comes from the natural world and, specifically, from the image of a drop of water on a surface. Harmonious and chic, the lighting bodies of the lamp are delicately placed on the “L” supports which, for a greater visual impact, were made with a satin brass finish.
Coupé lamp
The Coupé lamp by Joe Colombo won the 1968 International Design Award of the American Institute of Interior Designers in Chicago. And, as further evidence of its international fame, the series is part of the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York and the Neue Sammlung Museum in Munich. In its beginnings it was supposed to be a variant of the Spider, with the same base and stem, but later became famous for its unique dome. It is also a truly inventive piece for its reflector which slides up and down on the stem and is laterally adjustable. Here you can see it in its wall version.
Plume Lamp
Christophe Pillet designed Plume for a prestigious hotel in Saint-Tropez. The goal was to design an ornamental yet minimal and delicate lamp. Pillet used a thin metal surface and slightly folded it towards the center to obtain its delicate feather which acts as a reflector. Fine and elegant, it is irresistible as a wall lamp.
