GECCHELIN
“The unmeasured use of electric lighting has intoxicated us, many people seem not to be offended by excessive lighting… Forced to live inside dark rooms, our ancestors discovered beauty in the meaning of shadows and little by little, they learnt how to use it for aesthetic purposes. The barren elegance of Japanese rooms is entirely based on the infinite nuances of darkness” Conceived, Produced, Lighted: 50 Lamps by Bruno Gecchelin
Copyrights reserved July 2017 Student work, not available for sale A course of Bachelors in Product Design Printed in Milan, Lombardia ITALY
INTERSEZIONI MILANESE: Arte, Design, Comunicazione
GECCHELIN
compiled by
Harshali Paralikar
guided by
Prof. Massimiliano Savorra Francesca Acerboni
Preface
Introduction 1960s 1970s 1980s-90s Iconic Designs Personal Life Conclusion
Bibliography Sitography
PREFACE
During my time as an exchange student at the Politecnico di Milano, Scoula del Design, I attended a course in the second year of Product Design Bachelors titled ‘Intersezioni Milanese’. The objective of this course was to learn more about the intersections between art, design and communication in and around Milan and in the process, to get acquainted with the design history of the city and that of Italy. The coursework entailed a study and research of one Italian designer and his iconic works. “Gechhelin” is a result of that study. Moreover, I decided to go beyond the course abstract of compiling a dossier, and chose to create this booklet which would provide a more visual understanding of Bruno Gechhelin. In the creation of “Gechhelin” lies my first experience at making a booklet. This is a wholly new deliverable I set myself to, the outcome of which I hope is pleasing to its audience. I’d like to thank Maria Almeida, a visual communication designer, and a fellow Erasmus student at PoliMi, for her inputs in the making of this booklet and for being the thoroughly amazing friend that she is to me. I request the reader to forgive any lapses, and hope that they enjoy this short journey through Gechhelin’s life. Harshali Paralikar Milan July, 2017
INTRODUCTION
Bruno Gechhelin was born in Milan in 1939. In 1962, he developed a study and research on gas cookers and compact refrigerators. At around the same time he joined the design office of Olivetti in Ivrea, Piedmont, directed by Ettore Sottsass and based in Milan. He remained there for about fifteen years designing machines and electronic terminals as well as office furniture. In 1976 he was a freelancer, and after graduating in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano opened his own studio and began working with numerous companies. His Product Design work extends to different areas. To name a few, he designed a series of car accessories for Fiat Panda, padded chairs for Poltrona Frau and office furniture for Ycami. With Fratelli Guzzini he designed a full line of household tools for kitchen made of thermoplastic material. During his career, he had a passion to specialize in the equipment design technology for lighting. In all, he designed more than a hundred lamps in over forty years of activity ranging from commercial lighting, to museum and urban. The main companies he has worked with are O-Luce, Skipper, Arteluce-Flos Antonangeli, Venini, Matsushita, Tronconi, iGuzzini Lighting, Ivela, Raat and Reggiani Lighting. He was awarded several international awards including BIO Ljubljana, IF product design award in Hannover and three Compasso d’Oro awards: the first in 1989 for the series production of Shuttle iGuzzini Lighting Spot, the second in 1991 for the heat pump AGH New production Aermec Riello-171, and the third in 2004 for the Latin juicer Fratelli Guzzini. Besides design activity he has been teaching at IED European Institute of Design in Milan, the Politecnico di Milano and the Accademia di Brera in Milan. From 1996 he devoted himself to painting and graphic works on canvas. He now lives and works in Milan with his children.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Gecchelin
1960s
https://www.connox.com/design-knowledge/60s-design.html
While the solid, unemotional, functional design of the fifties was defined by the war years, the 60s looked forward to the future. Instead of ‘no experimenting’, the motto in the design world was now ‘everything is possible’. This optimism was driven by technological progress, economic recovery and a young, well-paid generation that longed not only for emotional, but also visual sensuality. Imaginative forms, bright colours and new materials in interior design were in demand, as were alternative lifestyles, hallucinogenic substances and pop music. Essentially, going against the establishment and its traditional taste was paramount. People started to reject the structured tailoring of the fashion industry, and values such as stability and functionality no longer had a primary role to play. The Pop Art movement was not alone in its desire for a new aesthetic that was deliberately ephemeral, massproduced, humorous and ironic. The lightweight, flexible 60s like the Sacco Beanbag by Zanotta reflected the youth’s fascination with mobility and light heartedness.
1970s
While the 1960s started to find its voice in surrealist art forms, the 1970s fully embraced imagination. This decade is known for its public activism as people rallied against long-standing institutions. After the relative affluence of the prior two decades, the energy crisis brought tremendous challenges. The design environment was not immune to these obstacles. Artists and craftsmen carried on the torch for mass-production, storage, lighting design, inflatable elements, transparency, and lightweight furniture offerings. However, architecture defined by Eco-friendly materials and solar energy was fashionable. Designers like Joe Colombo took multifunctional, nomadic furniture a step further with his Living Center system. This arrangement included side chairs and lounges (on wheels) with built-in ashtrays, radios, and compartments. This project embodies the quest for maximum comfort and convenience that started during the previous decade. With all the environmental issues at the forefront of the consumer mind, a return to earthy materials began. People wanted to live a simpler life, where they could live off the land. Handmade pieces experienced a revival due to this movement as people got back to their roots
http://www.causeafrockus. com/2013/11/1960s-1970s-furniture-interior-design/
1980s-90s
The Memphis Group was created by Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass in 1980, and named for the Bob Dylan song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” which played repeatedly at the meeting which marked the group’s founding. Like a lot of design movements, the Memphis Group was a reaction to what had come before: Sotsass and his collaborators were bored with the restrained lines and minimal color palette of modernism, and wanted to create something completely different. Their designs were wild and exuberant, often composed of brightly colored geometric shapes rendered in a simple, almost two-dimensional way, which gave them a playful, even childlike feel. Although not many of these intentionally bizarre pieces made their way into the homes of average people, the Memphis Group did have a tremendous influence on 80s design. Their unabashed exuberance and penchant for big, look-at-me designs was a particularly good fit for the ‘me’ decade, and some of their trademark elements — bright colors, wacky shapes, a kind of cartoonish two-dimensionality — are at the core of what we think of as 80s design. The style was extremely provokative and kitsch and it became in a few time the guiding style of the new Italian design. Instruments for Italian design promotion were the Compasso d’oro prize, exhibitions like the Triennale and the new Salone del Mobile in Milan and the big objectsmanifests like Italian ocean liner laying up for United States. Nowadays furniture design is the biggest Italian industrial design range for which Italy is the worldwide leader, but we can also find lighting design, automotive design and the emerging graphic and web design.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/abrief-history-of-memphis-the-designgroup-that-defined-the-look-of-the80s-226747
ICONIC DESIGNS
1970
TEGOLA
Maker: Skipper and Pollux Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Mid-Century, Italian Modern Materials: Chrome Plating, Metal, Plastic, Marble Color: Silver, white Width: 8 inch Depth: 8 inch Height: 24 inch Diameter: 8 inch
https://www.pamono.com/tegola-lamp-bybruno-gecchelin-for-skipper-pollux-1970s
1973
SPIDER WING
Maker: Oluce Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Mid-Century Modern Materials: PaintedMetal, Chrome, Plastic Length: 47.24 in Height: 35.43 in Width: 4.33 in Diameter: 47.24 in
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/lighting/table-lamps/spider-wing-lamp-bruno-gecchelin-oluce-italy-1973/idf_3969313/
1974
MEZZALUNA
Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Mid-Centur Materials: Carrara Marble, Chrome, Enamel Length: 6.5 in. Height: 12.5 in Width: 22.5 in
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/ lighting/floor-lamps/mezzaluna-floor-lamp-bruno-gecchelin-skipper/id-f_2838033/
1975
DOMEA
Maker: Oluce Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Mid-Century Modern Materials: Metal Length: 51.18 in Height: 15.75 in Width: 35.43 in
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/ lighting/chandeliers-pendant-lights/ domea-886-lamp-bruno-gecchelin-oluce-1970s/id-f_6876613/
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007% 2F978-3-7643-8140-0_22
1970s
BEL DESIGN Bel Design, which translates to “beautiful design” in English, was the Italian equivalent to Good Design in Germany. Bel Design had its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with the onset of Italy’s economic boom and ending when the oil crisis and industry-critical antidesign movements resulted in widespread cynicism about design’s role in progress. The typical characteristics of Bel Design were elegant form, experimentation, and collaborations with industries interested in and open to innovation. Collaborations with the plastics industry proved to be especially productive. Bel Design produced many modern classics such as Plia, Giancarlo Piretti’s Plexiglas folding chair for Castelli (1968), 4867, Joe Colombo’s chair for Kartell (1968), Selene, Vico Magistretti’s plastic chair for Artemide (1969), and the Divisumme 18, Mario Bellini’s calculator for Olivetti (1972).
1974
GESTO
Maker: Skipper and Pollux Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Industrial Materials: Chrome Plating, Metal Color: Silver, white Width: 36 inch Depth: 8 inch Height: 38 inch
https://www.pamono.com/gesto-lampby-bruno-gecchelin-for-skipper-1975-1
1977
IALEA
Maker: Skipper and Pollux Country of Manufacture: Italy Style: Industrial Materials: 2 shells of opal plastic joined by a large black rubber O-ring Color: Silver, white Width: 14.5 cm Length: 23 cm Height: 21 cm http://www.designaddict.com/ buy-and-sell/Lighting/table-lamps/ Lantern-lamp-Ialea-Bruno-Gecchelin-Guzzini
1978
ARIANA
Country of Manufacture: Italy Materials: Glass, Marble, Metal Length: 49.61 inch Height: 11.81 inch
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/lighting/floor-lamps/arianna-floor-lamp-bruno-gecchelin-o-luce/id-f_5447063/
1979
RING
Style: Classical Design, Mid-Century Material: Metal Color: Black Width: 53 cm Depth: 29 cm Height: 40 cm
https://www.pamono.it/table-lamp-ringby-bruno-gecchelin-for-arteluce-1979
2012
LIGHTSHINE
Maker: iGUzzini Description: Suspended direct/indirect light emission LED system. Materials: Thin aluminium profile; thermoplastic end caps.
http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/iguzzini/ product-4910-783420.html
2016
TECNICA
Maker: iGUzzini Description: LED Track Light Materials: Made in die cast aluminum and thermoplastic material. Opti Beam interchangeable reflectors with high luminous efficiency and homogeneous distribution. High visual comfort. Orientation of 90ยบ on the horizontal plane and rotation of 360ยบ around the vertical axis, with mechanical locking of the focus. Projectors with flood optics and lamps without built-in reflector include focus to regulate the light beam using the hand-held device. Models equipped with adjustable electronic transformer are manufactured with IGBT technology.
http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/iguzzini/ product-4910-78364.html
PERSONAL LIFE
Studio Gecchelin was funded by Bruno Gecchelin in 1976, is now run with his son Lorenzo. Lorenzo studied Architecture at the University of Milan. After his degree he moved to Holland where he spent a year working with an Architectural company, IAA Architecten. Lorenzo joined Studio Gecchelin in 1997, a family-run business, where he is responsible for designing products from concept ideas, through to mockups and into production. Lorenzo specializes in lighting design, kitchenware and home furnishings. His background in Architecture gives Lorenzo an interdisciplinary approach that allows his designs to both please aesthetically as well as meet exacting technical and engineering requirements.
http://www.lorenzogecchelin.com/about.html
CONCLUSION
Belonging to the third generation of Italian designers, that is the generation of forty-year-olds, as well as having designed and produced over fifty lamps, is certainly a considerable combination. Not, of course, in terms of breaking records, but in terms of experience. We must remember that the task of the designer is that of offering the lighting equipment market lamps which are destined to become part of the culture of that sector. The experience acquired by Bruno Gecchelin over two decades has led him to carry out research into all the sources of light, from the traditional incandescent bulb to various projects with neon lamps in all possible forms. Gecchelin’s studies also include a strong bond with the small halogen lamp. His work represents almost a challenge, to dominate the potentiality and instrumentalisation of light in order to domesticise it for use in modern life. in addition, through this co-continuous technological research, Gecchelin Has Been able to experiment with a wide range of materials, from metals to ceramics and compounds, Venetian glass and marble. Some of the articles created by him produce a reaction Which can only be described as poetical. Daniele Baroni
http://massmoderndesign.com/gallery-detail/bruno-gecchelin-perla-731-sconces-oluce-1986
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Ceccarelli , comp. Pensate, Prodotto, Illuminate- 50 Bruno lamps Gecchelin . MIlan, Italy: Lybra Picture, 1990.
Bürdek, Bernhard E. Design: history, theory and practice of product design. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2015.
“Vintage and Contemporary Furniture and Lighting Online.” Antiques, Vintage Furniture and Design at Pamono.com. Accessed July 07, 2017. https:// www.pamono.com/. “1stdibs: Antique and Modern Furniture, Jewelry, Fashion & Art.” 1stdibs: Antique and Modern Furniture, Jewelry, Fashion & Art. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.1stdibs.com/.
SITOGRAPHY
“Architecture and Design Products.” Archiproducts. Accessed July 07, 2017. http://www.archiproducts.com/en. Oluce - Lamps and Lighting for Interior Design. Accessed July 07, 2017. http://www.oluce.com/en/index.php. “Bruno Gecchelin.” Fratelli Guzzini Online Shop. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.fratelliguzzini.com/it_en/designers/bruno-gecchelin.html. Designdiffusion. “MADEexpo_Bruno Gecchelin.” YouTube. March 31, 2010. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bpYgDUSfPU.
Hauffe, Thomas. Design. London: Laurence King, 1998.
Bosoni, Giampiero. Design italiano. Milano: 5 Continents Editions, 2008.
Valeria. “Twentieth century design movements.” Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world. March 15, 2017. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://padlet.com/valeria_i/znpdrze7y1xb. Gecchelin, Studio. “HOME.” Studio Gecchelin Design. Accessed July 07, 2017. http://www.studiogecchelin.it/. IGuzziniSpA. “Sydecar, design Bruno Gecchelin.” YouTube. February 03, 2010. Accessed July 07, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP1zcMkKQes. “Bruno Gecchelin.” Wikipedia. June 30, 2017. Accessed July 07, 2017. https:// it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Gecchelin. “Bruno Gecchelin.” Reggiani Illuminazione. Accessed July 07, 2017. http:// www.reggiani.net/en/designer/bruno-gecchelin/. “Bruno Gecchelin Perla 731 sconces Oluce 1986.” Bruno Gecchelin Perla 731 Sconces Oluce 1986 | Mass Modern Design. Accessed July 07, 2017. http:// massmoderndesign.com/gallery-detail/bruno-gecchelin-perla-731-sconces-oluce-1986.