Different Tendencies
Ettore Sottsass
Asteroide
Scene design: Duyi Han
Asteroide table lamp
Produced by Design Centre for Poltronova, Italy
1969
Lacquered metal base, white and blue polycarbonate shade
28.7 x 10.2 x 5.9 inches
73 x 26 x 15 centimeters
Price and detailed condition available upon request
In the late 1960s, Design Centre owner Sergio Cammilli asked Radical designers to produce lamps in “shapes that astonish, shapes which breathed a kind of inherent magic that allows them to transform the spaces in which they find themselves.” Ettore Sottsass’s response was the Asteroide. The otherworldly design features two colored perspex shells—one white and one blue—enclosing a U-shaped fluorescent tube that all fit into a sparkly blue lacquered metal base, reminiscent of automotive paint.
Images courtesy of Galleria Luisa Delle Piane