MASSIMO & LELLA VIGNELLI (Milan, 1931-2014).

MASSIMO & LELLA VIGNELLI (Milan, 1931-2014). Floor lamp Model Wagneriana. Black marble. Published by Casigliani, Pisa, Italy, 1986. Dimensions: 178 x 49,5 x 49,5 cm. Floor lamp designed by the couple Lella and Massimo Vignelli in the 1980s. The formal refinement and geometric reduction of volumes was a constant quest of Vignelli's, which in the Wagnerian Model reached high levels of aestheticism. The synthesis of classicism and modernity gives the piece a timeless and eternal patina, accentuated by the use of black marble, combined with the patina of the metal. This Wagnerian floor lamp was on display in Massimo Vignelli's office. A similar model was exhibited at Creativa Produzione. La Toscana e il design italiano 1959-1990, in 2015 at the Fondazione Centro Studi Ragghianti in Lucca, Italy. Massimo Vignelli was an important and renowned Italian graphic and industrial designer. He attended a school in Brera, before earning his degree in architecture at the University of Milan. During 1953 and 1957, he also attended the School of Architecture at the University of Venice. In his early professional career, his area of specialisation was graphic design for the creation of products and corporate identities. In the late 1950s, he won a scholarship to study in the United States, specifically at Towle Silversmiths in Massachusetts and at the Chicago Institute of Design. He set up his own firm, Vignelli Associates, with his wife. He based his work on modernism and simplicity, manifested through his taste for geometric design.