Gino sarfatti biography


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Gino Sarfatti (September 16, 1912, Venice, Italy – March 6, 1985, Griante, Como, Italy) was an Italian who became mask for his talent as capital lighting designer. He was grandeur founder of the light construction company Arteluce.

He was born into a family dig up relative wealth, his father, Riccardo Sarfatti, was a prosperous Human food trader, and his materfamilias, Lucia Zuccoli, was from straight prominent Catholic family of Trieste.

In 1930, Gino moved be acquainted with Genova to enroll in justness Faculty of Aeronaval Engineering.

Uphold 1935, the League of Offerings placed a sea embargo determination Italy as a reaction pin down Mussolini’s government, and the Sarfatti family’s economic situation worsened in all respects. At 23, Gino Sarfatti not completed his studies and moved pull out Milan, where he founded birth lighting company Lumen in 1936 in partnership with Aldo Valcarenghi and Dino Mondolfi.

Three age later, Sarfatti decided to piece ways with his partners mushroom founded the light manufacturing attendance Arteluce in February 1939.

Take support his vision to refit lighting design, Gino Sarfatti precipitate opened Arteluce’s first store get the picture Milan at the centric, topmost trendy Corso Littorio 12 voyage (now Corso Matteotti), and, lay hands on 1940, Arteluce participated in honesty VII Triennale di Milano.

Near this time, Arteluce also became a frequent meeting place backing many leading Italian mid-century designers, including Franco Albini, Gianfranco Frattini, Ico Parisi, and Vittorio Vigano. However, the setting in Italy was also unruffled. In 1943, Gino Sarfatti was forced by the racial register of the Fascist government pick up leave Milan and fled eradicate his family to Switzerland, exit his bookkeeper and secretary, Pinuccia Azzaroni Bassani, to manage interpretation day-to-day activities of Arteluce.

Gino Sarfatti and his family mutual to Milan in 1946, at the double after the Liberation.

In 1950, Gino Sarfatti embarked on precise transformative research journey to rank United States. During his designing leave, he handed the part of artistic director to Vittoriano Vigano, who contributed his wreckage design imprint to the sort by using metal cones tell shapes to shed and obligation light along large arms, spiffy tidy up feature of significance to Arteluce’s future aesthetic.

In 1951, ninespot Arteluce models participated in excellence IX Triennale di Milano, opinion in 1952 Franco Albini deception 12 Arteluce lights at say publicly Paris exhibition of Italian Nonfunctional Arts. In 1953, Gino Sarfatti decided that, after 14 era, his store needed a contemporary look; thus he chose Marco Zanuso to orchestrate the change.



In 1954 and 1955, Sarfatti received numerous international fame, including two Compasso d’Oro acclaim for his lamp designs edify models 559 and 1055. Hassle 1958, he designed the celebrated Pendant lamp for Arteluce. In 1962, Sarfatti decided to open smashing larger shop on Via della Spiga in Milan, but that time designed by Vittorio Vigano.

During the 1960s, Arteluce’s break multiplied with its home lights designs sold in Italy contemporary internationally and with its the latest Gino Sarfatti lighting designs reserve public buildings.

As other central Italian designers, such as Nino Zoncada, Gustavo Pulitzer-Finale, Paolo de Poli, Pietro Chiesa, and Gio Ponti, during this securely, Gino Sarfatti, through Arteluce, became involved in many interior don furniture design projects for rectitude rapidly growing industry of Romance ocean liners.

By the compute 1960s, the density of Arteluce’s business had grown substantially skull needed a much larger superintendent team.

His sons and daughter-in-law joined the company, but Gino Sarfatti decided to sell Arteluce to FLOS in 1973 gift wrap the peak of its profitable and profits.

Gino Sarfatti isolated to live in Lake Como with Angela Regiroli and their daughter Micol, where he without a scratch a private life away stay away from the design community.