Angelo Lelii Calla Table Lamp

Materials: Brass tripod base and brass parts. Red painted aluminium conical folded lampshade, painted white inside. 3 white plastic caps. Bakelite E14 socket.

Height: 30 cm / 11.81”

Width: ∅ 11 cm / 4.33”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1950s, 1960s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Angelo Lelii aka Angelo Lelli (1911 – 1979).

Manufacturer: Arredoluce, Monza, Italy.

Other versions: This Angelo Lelii Calla table lamp exists in several colours. A mint green table lamp is shown below.

This table lamp is always named ”Calla” after the flower calla lily. But the Calla table lamp designed by Angelo Lelii is a different lamp and designed around 1950. It was also made as a floor lamp and it has many flowers standing in a diabolo style base. This lamp was only named “table lamp” when produced around 1959.

These type of lamps are all “TV-lamps”. Table lamps that were intended to put on top of a black and white TV to create a back-light in the at that time very dark living rooms. Rooms were completely blacked out to get a better look at the blurry TV screen.

This table lamp is described in the book: Arredoluce – Catalogo Ragionato 1943-1987 – Catalogue Raissonné. Written by Anty Pansera, Alessandro Padoan and Alessandro Palmaghini. Published by SilvanaEditoriale. It is located on page 322. The Calla floor and table lamp are on page 123 and also on page 281.

Arredoluce

Angelo Lelii is the founder of the Arredoluce company; Italy’s most innovative lighting firm of the 1950’s and 1960’s. He stands out with his innovative research into form, matter and colour. The company was active from 1943 until 1987.

Designers that worked for Arredoluce, are among others: Gio Ponti, Ettore Sottsass Jr., Vico Magistretti. Mario Tedeschi, Nanda Vigo. Egle Amaldi, Vincenzo Gozzini. Achille Castiglioni, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. Marco Comolli, Luigi Radice, Enrico Taglietti, Innocente Gandini. Gregotti Meneghetti Stoppino, Cesare Lacca. Franco Giovanni Legler, Elio Monesi.

Angelo Lelii

Angelo Lelii was born in 1911 in Monza, near Milan in Italy. He was responsible for the design and manufacture of hundreds of beautiful lamps. In 1943 he created his first lamp in his basement at home. In 1946 he had a complete page in the famous Domus-magazine and in 1947 he started his company Arredoluce in his hometown. The company ended business in 1987.

You can find an Italian lamp company on the internet with the same name, but they just use this name, they got nothing to do with the original.