Rodolfo Bonetto Nitia Table Lamp

Materials: Dark orange-red round slant acrylic base. Clear rotatable round acrylic lampshade on top. Silver painted round metal lid, perforated with 12 round holes. Bakelite E14 socket.

Height: 28 cm / 11.02”

Width: 20 cm / 7.87”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Rodolfo Bonetto (1929 – 1991) in 1972.

Manufacturer: Harvey Guzzini DH (Design House), via Mariano Guzzini, 37. 62019, Recanati, Italy. Today named iGuzzini. 

Other versions: The Rodolfo Bonetto Nitia table lamp was also made in black and grey.

Commercial code: DM4.

iGuzzini re-released this lamp in 2023.

Rodolfo Bonetto

Rodolfo Bonetto was born in Milan, Italy in 1929. At first he was a successful jazz drummer with the famous Sestetto Italiano (Italian Sextet), where he played together with Attilio Donadio, Berto Pisano, Giampiero Boneschi, Gianni Basso and Oscar Valdambrini. He also played drums for the Flavio Ambrosetti New Quartet and Giampiero Boneschi E La Sua Orchestra.

Rodolfo Bonetto founded his own company Bonetto Design in 1958. The self-thought artist became one of the great masters of Italian design. He designed furniture, seats, household appliances, telephones, televisions, machines, clocks, too many to mention. And of course lighting. 

Rodolfo Bonetto designed for Olivetti, Brionvega, Siemens, Bilumen, Luci, Autovox, Valextra, Driade, Veglia Borletti, Fiat, Opel, Cimbali, Alfa Romeo, Audi and many other companies.

For Harvey Guzzini/iGuzzini Bonetto designed several lamps since 1967, after he met Raimondo Guzzini. The most well known were designed in the 1980s. Among others: the Ala desk lamp, The Tineka desk lamp, the Ventaglio table and floor lamp and of course this Nitia table lamp.

He was president of the ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale) from 1971 to 1973 and the ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) from 1979 to 1981. He received 8 Gold Compasses awards, the last of which to his professional career.

In 1984, Rodolfo Bonetto began to teach the business to his son Marco, who soon joined him as an assistant. In 1991 Marco took over the management after his father died.

“Design is like a butterfly in your hands, Rodolfo often used to say, if you hold it too much it dies, if you let it go it flies away”.

Nitia Table Lamp

The Nitia table lamp was released under the Design House label. It was used for a short time by Harvey Guzzini in the late 1960s, early 1970s.  Also a store was opened in 1969 in the center of Milan under the name Harvey Guzzini-DH.

iGuzzini 

iGuzzini illuminazione was established in June 1958 by Raimondo Guzzini (born 1928) under the name Harvey. Harvey is derived from the famous movie ‘Harvey’ with James Stuart and the invisible rabbit Harvey from 1950.
The initial production of enamelled copper objects was supplemented by decorative luminaires.
In the early sixties it became a family business when his 5 brothers joined the company. In 1962 Luigi Massoni was attracted to lead the design team. He worked for Fratelli Guzzini and Harvey Guzzini until 1976. Luigi Massoni designed many iconic lamps in that period.
The company still exists and changed the name in 1974 into iGuzzini and in 1981 to iGuzzini illuminazione.

Designers

Designers that worked for Harvey Guzzini – iGuzzini are, among others: Giò Ponti, Rodolfo Bonetto, Bruno Gecchelin, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Gae Aulenti, Piero Castiglioni, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, Mario Cucinella, Dean Skira, Renzo Piano, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Enzo Eusebi, Massimiliano e Doriana Fuksas, Jean-Marie Duthilleul, Maurici Ginès, Maurici Ginès, Roberto Pamio, Paul Andreau, Felice Ragazzo, Giuseppe De Goetzen, Franco Bresciani, Carlo Urbinati, Giuseppe Cormio, Ermanno Lampa, Sergio Brazzoli and of course Luigi Massoni.

Acrylic: often named by its commercial name: Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite, Lucite, is a thermoplastic.