Italian Ceramic Bird Table Lamp by Bitossi
About the Item
- Creator:Bitossi (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 21.25 in (53.98 cm)Diameter: 16 in (40.64 cm)Length: 21.25 in (53.98 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970s
- Condition:Additions or alterations made to the original: New vanilla linen shade. Rewired: New brass socket. Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Palm Springs, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU938020131842
Bitossi
Like a Fellini movie, the ceramics of the famed Italian company Bitossi Ceramiche embody a creative spectrum that ranges from the playful and earthy to the high-minded and provocative. Based in Florence, Bitossi draws on craft traditions that date back to the 1500s. These find expression in Bitossi pottery that includes artisanal vintage vases and animal figures by the firm’s longtime art director Aldo Londi, as well as the colorful, totemic vessels designed by the high priest of postmodernism, Ettore Sottsass.
Bitossi was incorporated by Guido Bitossi in 1921, though the family began making art pottery in the mid-19th century. In the 1930s, Londi came aboard, bringing with him a mindset that respected time-honored craft, yet looked also to the future. On the one hand, Londi’s perspective fostered the making of Bitossi’s popular whimsical cats, owls, horses and other animal figures, hand-shaped and -carved and finished in a rich azure glaze known as “Rimini Blue.”
But with his other hand, Londi reached out to thoughtful, experimental designers such as Sottsass. After hiring Sottsass to design ceramics for his New York imports company, Raymor, American entrepreneur Irving Richards connected the Milanese design polymath to Londi, who introduced Sottsass to ceramics in the 1950s.
During that decade, some 20 years before he founded the Memphis postmodern design collective in Milan, Sottsass used the Bitossi kilns to create timeless works that manifest both primitive forms and modern geometries. In later decades, Bitossi would welcome new generations of designers, which have included such names as Ginevra Bocini and Karim Rashid.
While always looking forward, Bitossi is firm in their belief that mastery of craft is the first step towards beautiful design. As you will see from the works offered on these pages, that is a winning philosophy.
Find a collection of vintage Bitossi decorative objects, lighting and serveware on 1stDibs.
You May Also Like
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic, Pottery, Stoneware
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic, Fabric
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1950s Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Pottery
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic, Glass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic
More From This Seller
View AllVintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Steel
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
