Luigi Pellegrin Desk Lamp

Luigi Pellegrin desk lamp flat round base chrome tube white lampshade model D804 1970s Candle Italy

Luigi Pellegrin Architect – Lifetime Achievement Award – October 2000

Candle

Candle Illuminazione was an Italian lighting manufacturer based in Milan, founded in the mid-1950s. The company became known for bold, sometimes eccentric and futuristic designs.

Over the decades, Candle worked with a wide range of designers. Names associated with Candle include, among others: Vico Magistretti, Gae Aulenti, Sergio Asti, M. Ferrari, Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino, Paolo Lomazzi, A. Fornaroli, G. Botturi, S. Lo Bianco – Bocola, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Angelo Mangiarotti, Giotto Stoppino, Allesandro Pianon, Giorgio and Max Pajetta, Rodolfo Bonetto,Riccardo Giovanetti, Francesco Gobbi, Luciano Pagani and Angelo Perversi, Charles Williams, Jonathan Daifuku, Silvio Caputo, Tim Power, Pierluigi Cerri, Christophe Pillet, and many more.

Company locations

Candle ’s original headquarters and showroom were located at Via Ariberto 24, 20123 Milan, an address that appears in company catalogues of the late 1960s and early 1970s. From 1 April 1973, the company officially relocated to a new and larger site at Via Salaino 7, 20144 Milan. This address formed part of a broader industrial complex historically associated with Candle, including production-related facilities such as storage areas and service buildings.

In addition to its Milan base, Candle maintained affiliated showrooms in Rome (Via Monte Brianzo 56) and Turin (Piazza Arbarello 7), reflecting the company’s national presence within Italy during its most active period.

In 1993, FontanaArte acquired Candle and developed it as an additional division/line aimed at a younger audience, with projects by upcoming designers and more competitive pricing, supported by newer materials and production processes.

The Candle name is no longer commonly used as an independent brand; Candle designs and production are generally presented under FontanaArte.

Many thanks to Andrea Sarzi Braga for his contribution and the photos.

Luigi Pellegrin Desk Lamp

Materials: White painted metal round flat base. Chromed metal (iron) tube. White painted curved elongated iron lampshade. White painted Bakelite E14 socket.

Height: 30.5 cm / 12.00”

Width: 30 cm / 11.81”

Base: ∅ 20 cm / 7.87”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 60 watt max, 110 – 220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a small one is preferred.

Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Luigi Pellegrin (1925-2001) and Leonardo Fiori (1926-2008).

Manufacturer: Candle, Via Salaino 7, Milan, Italy.

Other versions: No other versions exists of this Luigi Pellegrin desk lamp model D804.

Luigi Pellegrin

Luigi Pellegrin was born in Courcelette, France in 1925 and died in Rome, Italy in 2001.

He designed this lamp, model D804 in 1974 (some source say 1972), during the works of construction of the Foggia library in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southern Italy together with Leonardo Fiori. He also designed all the furniture and other lamps for the renewed library. Luigi Pellegrin is among the greatest exponents of organic architecture.

He graduated in Rome, and after a period of study in the United States, he began his professional career at the beginning of the 1950s becoming part of ‘APAO, the Association for Organic Architecture, founded by Bruno Zevi.

He has curated numerous projects both in Italy and in many foreign countries (Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Spain, Venezuela), including many school buildings, patenting some prefabricated building systems.

Since the 1980s he worked in particular on the great plans (plan for Novoli in Florence, Italy and the master plan for the State Railways in Rome).

Architectural Design

Luigi Pellegrin was professor of architectural design at the University “La Sapienza ” and visiting professor at the University of Houston (USA). His works in Rome, Italy include: the buildings in the Piccolomini street (1958), square Clodius (1959) and the L. Bodio street (1961); the competition for the Palace of the Chamber of Deputies offices (1967), the primary school in the A. Bertolotti street (1975), and many others.

He also realized: INA-house neighborhoods in Ascoli Piceno (1957), Galatina (1958), Terracina (1961), and Gaeta (1962); post offices in Saronno and Suzara (1958), the Health Plan and urban quality of the area of Beles, Ethiopia (1987); the Plan for Novoli in Florence (1988, in collaboration); the Justice Palaces of Syracuse (interior decoration, 1988-95), Vallo della Lucania (1991-99) and Mantua (1992-2000).

MIM

Luigi Pellegrin is internationally most famous for the seating he designed for the Italian company MIM (Mobili Italiani Moderni – Italian Modern Furniture), where the young Luigi was mentored by the famous Ico Parisi who founded the MIM company.

“The architect is not a professional, he is an entity chosen by the social group to view and build the level of quality achieved by that group; realized then that the body will function as an incubator, organizing in positive exchanges the real conflicts of the moment ” – Luigi Pellegrin.

Luigi Pellegrin