Elio Martinelli. Serpente 599 lamp for Martinelli Luce

ELIO MARTINELLI (Lucca 1922-2004) for Martinelli Luce.
"Serpente 599", 1970s. First edition.
Lacquered metal and methacrylate.
It presents marks of use according to the use and the passage of time.
Measurements: 45 x 45 cm.

The table lamp with diffused light Serpente by Martinelli Luce was designed in 1965 by Elio Martinelli and is now a cult object. It was made with innovative acrylic techniques for the time in which it was designed and revives the atmosphere of those years.

Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence as a set designer, Elio Martinelli began to take his first steps in the field of lighting in the business of his father Plinio. After a few years and after several experiences in the scenography sector, he decides to start his own business focusing initially on interior design and set-up of stores, restaurants, hotels and pubs. Due to the need to finish his plans, he drew and made the lighting fixtures on his own. During the 50's, Elio accentuates his simple and rigorous inspiration giving a strong impulse to his company that becomes a point of reference for Italian design in the geometry of lighting and nature considered from its many forms. A crescendo of intuitions and experimentations using new materials such as methacrylate. From these first tests were born very different lamps such as Foglia, Bolle, Cobra or Biconica.
Elio Martinelli was an inexhaustible source of ideas and innovation whose design objects such as Cobra, Bolla, Semisfera and many others are still examples of this original design impulse.