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Department Store during a show dedicated to Italian design.
In the meantime, Urbinati and Vecchiato designed the Kigò table lamp and
the Lift suspension lamp. Starting as always with the application of the
principles of lighting, in Lift a pair of counter-positioned dichroic lamps
move along wires, held taut by the weight of the glass, to illuminate the
ceiling canopy and the counterweight shade. The following year they
produced Luna, an essential table lamp in transparent glass which directed
the luminous flux by means of a concave mirrored lens, and Monolite, a
floor lamp with an extruded aluminum body.
During this first phase of their activity, Foscarini created the Colora wall
system, yet another experience in industrializing a decorative element such
as the hand-cast glass tile, rather popular in interior decorating at the time.
These were pressed slats, available in ten colors, inserted into a metal profile
structure, interchangeable to allow variation in the chromatic composition of
the wall. The decor was none other than the optical effect produced by the
double concave surface. At the end of the decade, several causes, including
the international economic conditions determined by the appearance of
competing labor markets, marked the beginning of an inexorable decline in
the traditional commissions of custom contract work and with them the
commercial fate of many glass factories on Murano. The original owner of the
company, not interested in leading the company towards the exclusive
production of standard lamps, decided to sell. In February 1988 Urbinati and
Vecchiato bought Foscarini. This passage determined the beginning of a new
phase and new opportunities, given that the foundation had been laid for
design and production capabilities within the company, with the capacity to
respond to a wide range of requirements, and complemented by market and
advertising penetration. The following years would be characterized on the
one hand by the need to develop design; on the other by the pressing
requirements of directly managing a company.
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previous pages:
Wassily off the Wall, Adam D. Tihany
with Joseph Mancini, 1985.
below:
catalog and brochure.
Carlo Urbinati and Alessandro Vecchiato,
1983 and 1985
Lampa d’arte, Milton Glaser, Adam D. Tihany
and Luciano Vistosi, 1985 (wood table by Livio
De Marchi and glass by Pino Signoretto);
stand design for Euroluce, Carlo Urbinati
and Alessandro Vecchiato, 1983
