Artemide - Light as a Human Act
A Studio Jacobson Deep-dive into the Italian lighting house that turned illumination into philosophy - and changed how designers think about space.
At Studio Jacobson, art and design have always been a single conversation. When we look at a piece of original abstract work, we're also thinking about the room it will inhabit — the light that will reach it, the shadows it will cast, the atmosphere it will help create. So it's no surprise that one of the brands we return to again and again in our own practice, and recommend to clients, is Artemide.
Founded in Milan in 1960 by aerospace engineer Ernesto Gismondi and designer Sergio Mazza, Artemide began with six lamp designs and a modest initial investment. Over six decades, it has grown into one of the world's most respected lighting manufacturers — present in 107 countries, responsible for some of the most celebrated design objects of the twentieth century, and still, stubbornly, insisting that light should serve the person beneath it.
An Engineer and an Artist
What has always struck us about Artemide's origin story is how familiar it feels. Two founders, two disciplines — one rooted in engineering rigour, one in aesthetic sensibility — working in close collaboration to produce something neither could have made alone.
That's precisely the dynamic Mary and Danny bring to every Studio Jacobson project. The intersection of structure and feeling is where the most interesting things happen.
Gismondi, trained in aeronautical and nuclear engineering, could have built a functional lighting company. Instead, he built a philosophical one. He invited the leading designers of each era into the studio and asked them a deceptively simple question: what does light owe to the person who lives beneath it?
"A light capable of following our rhythms and our needs in a flexible way — which allows us to become authors of our environment."
— CARLOTTA D E B E V I L ACQUA, P R E S I D E N T & C E O, ARTEMIDE
A Timeline of Quiet Revolutions
From our practice: when we're sourcing lighting for an interior project, we're looking for the same qualities we look for in original art — intention, restraint, and the ability to change how a space feels without overpowering it. Artemide lamps, particularly the Tolomeo and the Eclisse, do exactly that. They hold their own in a considered interior while still inviting the room to breathe around them.
D E S I G N I C O N S
Lamps Worth Knowing
1967 Eclisse
VICO MAGISTRETTI
An inner rotating shell gives the user control of light intensity — a lamp that makes you the author of your own atmosphere. Compasso d'Oro winner. Still in production.
1972 Tizio
RICHARD SAPPER
Perfectly counterbalanced, wire-free, and luminously precise. Current travels through the arms themselves. Part of MoMA's permanent collection and arguably the most influential desk lamp ever made.
1987 Tolomeo
DE LUCCHI & FASSINA
Repositionable with a single finger. Polished aluminium, perfect tension. Half a million made annually in its own dedicated factory. The world's most popular designer lamp.
2014 IN-EI
ISSEY MIYAKE
Origami-folded from recycled PET fibre using Miyake's Pleats Please technique. Where
fashion meets architecture — and sustainability becomes cultural beauty.
2016 Gople
BJARKE INGELS GROUP
Bjarke Ingels Group's first lighting work. Mouth-blown glass, warm LED, the silhouette of a sea creature suspended mid-motion. Organic and quietly spectacular.
1967 Nessino
GIANCARLO MATTIOLI
A jellyfish in ABS plastic — democratic, joyful, enduring. One of the first mass-produced design objects to bring the language of organic form into everyday interiors.
Why This Matters to How We Work
At Studio Jacobson, we believe the spaces that move us are the ones where nothing is arbitrary. Every material, every surface, every source of light has been chosen with care — not to impress, but to create a specific quality of experience. Artemide shares that commitment. Carlotta de Bevilacqua, who leads Artemide today, speaks of "subtraction as beauty" — the idea that refinement comes from removing what is unnecessary rather than adding what is impressive. That resonates deeply with the way Danny approaches a canvas and the way Mary approaches a room. The best work is the work where nothing needs to be explained.
We also admire Artemide's long-standing relationship with craft. Their Venetian glassworks, their Italian manufacturing, their insistence on keeping the Tolomeo's production in a single dedicated facility — these are the decisions of a company that treats quality not as a differentiator but as a baseline.
"I believe it is important to reduce in order to innovate — to try to give more with less, better performance and new qualities with less energy and matter."
— CARLOTTA D E B E V I L ACQUA
For those of us designing interiors or collecting art, the lesson from Artemide is practical: invest in the quality of light in a room and everything else — the art, the furniture, the colour — will show better for it. Light is not decoration. It is the condition under which everything else is seen.
If you're working with us on an interior project and want to discuss how Artemide's range might work in your space, we'd love that conversation. It's one of our favourite topics.
Let's create something worth living with.
Studio Jacobson works with art collectors, interior designers, homeowners, and commercial clients across Melbourne and Australia.
