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Umberto Riva
Umberto Riva, born June 16, 1928, Milan, Italy, studied architecture in Venice, where he was a pupil of Carlo Scarpa, graduating in 1959.
Riva began his professional activity in Milan in 1960. He was an architect, furniture and lighting designer.
He designed lighting for companies such as FontanaArte, Barovier&Toso, Francesconi, Bieffeplast and VeArt.
Umberto Riva passed away in Palermo, Sicily, June 25, 2021.
He designed these lamp models for VeArt, among others: Scarabeo table lamp, Medusa table lamp, Campanula pendant lamp, the Bubbola and Bubbolina table lamp, wall lamp and ceiling lamp series, and the Amanita table lamp, wall lamp and ceiling lamp series.
1970s VeArt Table Lamp
Materials: Round open glass base. Hand-blown translucent blue Murano glass lampshade, frosted inside. Brass joint and parts. White painted Bakelite E27 socket.
Height: 31 cm / 12.20”
Width: 32 cm / 12.59”
Base: ∅ 18,5 cm / 7.28”
Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Anytypeof light bulb canbeused. Not a specific one preferred. For this setup a blue 25 watt incandescence light bulb was used.
Period: 1970s, 1980s – Mid-Century Modern.
Designer: Umberto Riva – attributed.
Manufacturer: VeArt, VE-ART, Via Moglianese, 30037, Scorzè, Venice, Italy.
Other versions: This 1970s VeArt table lamp exists in several colours and 2 sizes . The smaller model is 20 cm / 7.87” high. A comparable lamp, with the same line on top, model VT. 67, named Medusa is also by his hand.
Vistosi produced a table lamp in this style, also with a hole on the side. That’s why this lamp is often wrongly attributed to Vistosi. But just looking at the metal parts used, it is clear that this cannot be a Vistos i lamp.
VeArt
VeArt, first written as Ve-Art was founded in 1965 by Sergio Biliotti and Ludovico Diaz de Santillana. Ludovico Diaz de Santillana was born in Rome in 1931. He graduated in architecture in Venice and he started teaching at the university. He married Anna Venini, the daughter of Paolo, the founder of the Venini glass company.
Ludovico Diaz de Santillana became the artistic director of Venini in 1985, after Paolo ‘s death. He died in 1989.
The VeArt company produced artistic glass and lighting. Mario Ticco was artistic director for a while. In the early 90s the brand was acquired by Artemide. The Artemide company used the brand’s name for a couple of years.
Designers that worked for VeArt are, among others: Tobia Scarpa, Renato Toso, Noti Massari, Toni Zuccheri, Paolo Zanotta, Ernesto Gismondi = Orni Halloween, Umberto Riva, Alfredo Giuseppe Righetto, Lino Tagliapietra, Roberto Freno, Luciano Bartolini, Adolf Loos, Luisa Calvi, Giorgio de Ferrari, Gigi Basso, Luigi Ghisetti, Umberto Riva, Sergio Asti, and Guido Rosati.
VeArt also sold lamps under the name VeLuce. They appear together in the same catalogues. The VeLuce lamps doon’t have names in the catalogues, only numbers. VeArt was the more fancy of the two. But the designs of VeLuce are certainly not inferior to those of VeArt.
