Angelo Gaetano Sciolari was a prominent Italian designer and entrepreneur who produced stunning lighting throughout his career. His Cubic series from the 1970s, which was available in various sizes and configurations, is particularly well known. Even today, his lamps, pendant fixtures and chandeliers are highly sought after by collectors and sell at high prices worldwide.
Gaetano Sciolari's iconic lighting has recently returned to the spotlight as the glamorous 1970s pieces have attracted a new generation of admirers.
Gaetano Sciolari was born in 1927, and after graduating in architecture, he began training as a film director. When his father died unexpectedly in 1949, it fell to him to carry on the family business Sciolari Lighting, originally founded in 1892. Sometime in the 1950s, Sciolari also became head designer for the legendary lighting manufacturer Stilnovo - founded by designer Bruno Gatti in Milan in 1946. During the post-war period, many Italian design firms, especially Stilnovo, attracted international fame for their experimental use of new materials and streamlined silhouettes. However, Sciolari was still attracted to somewhat more traditional expressions, often using opal glass, steel and brass. His Molecular Chandelier (1955), produced by Stilnovo, for example, shows his penchant for mixing modernist geometry with deco-style materials.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Sciolari's designs for Sciolari Lighting began to increase in popularity among interior designers in Europe and the United States. These collections were influenced by a range of artistic movements, from cubism and deconstructivism to minimalism, but came to express a sophisticated, sculptural and even futuristic aesthetic. Sciolari's creative approach to mixed materials was something completely new and he used crystal with frosted opal glass and mixed highly polished metals with matte surfaces and the then unusual combination of brass with chrome, to create these creative masterpieces.
Sciolari passed away in 1994. Today, his lamps, pendants and chandeliers sell for high prices and are sought after by collectors.
