photo © Pierpaolo Ferrari
Nel 1987 su progetto di Michele de Lucchi e Silvano Fassina , Artemide mette sul mercato Tolomeo , una lampada che avrà grande successo , diventando un simbolo del Made in Italy / In 1987 , Artemide launched Tolomeo , a lamp designed by Michele de Lucchi and Silvano Fassina , which proved to be very successful and a symbol of Made in Italy
Callimaco , 1982 Il primo progetto per Artemide di Ettore Sottsass / The first project for Artemide by Ettore Sottsass
Ernesto Gismondi , a world of light
He was not afraid to bring the future into the present , to innovate , in the name of man and his needs . Science and applied research combined with beauty . He has been among the first to understand the innovations in lighting technology , to want a sustainable company . He had a pragmatic , highly intuitive and visionary intelligence
Carlotta de Bevilacqua
Artemide , or Artemis , the Greek goddess of the moon who guides our steps at night , but also the destination , in the 1960s , of the extreme space exploration that led to the lunar landing , is the name chosen for an Italian company that has truly brought Italian light and lamps in the world . Ernesto Gismondi founded it initially with Sergio Mazza and then shared it with Carlotta de Bevilacqua , who now heads the group . Ernesto Gismondi was a man of light , light understood in the special way of innovation in the service of humanity and of the search for beauty . A native of the Liguria region , he was born in Sanremo on Christmas Day , and left us on December 31st , 2020 , the New Year ’ s Eve of an epoch-making year . And indeed , his life was luminous , a bit like the wake of a comet . He graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1957 with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering , as he was passionate about aircraft and space . Then , he specialised in Rocketry in Rome in 1959 , and collaborated with Breda and NASA , and after his double degree , he was awarded the chair of Missile Engines at the Politecnico di Milano . Back in Milan in 1959 , he founded Studio Artemide together with his partner . An energetic agenda that already clearly showed his drive to create , build and innovate . Alfa was the name of the first lamp presented by the fledgling company , designed by the studio ’ s co-founder , architect Sergio Mazza . The first lamp models are named after the letters of the Greek alphabet . Alfa , with its crystal lampshade mimicking the classic pleated fabric shade , gave a slightly ironic reinterpretation of the taste of the middle class ; it conveyed the new possibility of a profound change in living , which was emerging in those years . Mazza designed , while Gismondi was in charge of all external production , with various craftsmen working with glass , metals and stones such as marble . Only three years later , the first factory for the assembly and painting was set up . In an Italy definitively emerging from the post-war period , Gismondi ’ s intuition was to invite the celebrities to the project ; great designers like Gio Ponti , Vico Magistretti , Enzo Mari and Gae Aulenti , and , over time , other big names such as Mario Botta , Ettore Sottsass , Michele De Lucchi , Andrea Branzi , Matteo Thun , Ross Lovegrove , Herzog & De Meuron , Issey Miyake , Santiago Calatrava , Jean Nouvel , Foster + Partners , David Chipperfield , Mario Cucinella and still others , always chosen with great care . Then , of course , it was the turn of the alliance with other manufacturing companies with the same vision , of which there were eight in all : Arflex , Bernini , Boffi , Cassina , Flos , ICF De Padova and Tecno . From this ideal sharing , in 1966 , the legendary magazine Ottagono was born . Sergio Mazza left the company in 1971 and , with a further philosophical turn , the following year
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