Table Lamp 'Serpente' by Elio Martinelli for Martinelli Luce

The Italian lighting designer Elio Martinelli (1921-2004) studied scenography at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and in 1956 founded the company Martinelli Luce in his home town of Lucca, which he ran as chief designer. He became known for lamp models such as the Serpente floor lamp (1965) with a rotating lamp head and the Cobra wall lamp (1968) with a movable arm, both produced by Martinelli Luce. His designs are based on simple geometric forms such as the sphere, cylinder and hemisphere and use materials such as methacrylate, ABS plastic and aluminium. Other well-known models are Poliedro (1962), Elmetto and Nuvole Vagabonde. Works by Martinelli are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.