For sale, Sergio Asti’s highly collectable “Paracarro” table lamp, produced by Bilumen, Italy, in 1972.
The Paracarro was produced in a range of subtle tinted finishes, including grey, purple, yellow, milk-white, and green, as seen here. While exact production figures remain undocumented, it’s widely claimed that fewer than 100 of these lamps were ever produced. Irrespective of the exact production numbers, these are extremely rare lamps, with relatively few examples recorded in the marketplace and literature.
The lamp consists of three hand-blown glass domes, nested one within the other, enclosing an opaline globe diffuser at the core, all of which sit on a chrome-plated brass stepped base.
The lamp is in superb vintage condition. The three hand-blown glass dome elements are in superb condition. The base is in excellent condition, with some very minor age-related marks on the outside, and some loss to the chrome coating, revealing the core brass material, around the inner edge where the largest dome sits (see photos). Of note, the innermost opaline globe shade is not believed to be the original, but a later, almost like-for-like replacement.
Sergio Asti (1926–2021) was a leading figure of Italian design in the postwar era, known for his refined balance of modernist clarity and expressive form. Trained as an architect at the Politecnico di Milano, he established his studio in 1956 and quickly gained recognition through the Compasso d’Oro award and international exhibitions. Asti collaborated with prominent Italian manufacturers such as Bilumen, Arnolfo di Cambio, Fontana Arte, and Artemide, producing glass, furniture, and lighting that combined industrial precision with sculptural elegance. His works are held in major design collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Bilumen (originally founded as ABM – Alfredo Bianchi Milano) was active in bringing industrial designers into lighting in the post-war era and into the 1970s and beyond. They were renowned for creating pioneering lighting in collaboration with leading Masters of Italian design, such as Marco Zanuso, Sergio Asti, Richard Sapper, Isao Hosoe, Hans Von Klier, Rodolfo Bonetto, Giorgina Castiglioni and Vittorio Gregotti.
References for Paracarro include:
_ Domus magazine (Issue 506, 1972).
_ Bibliographic listing in Joe Colombo Designer. Catalogo ragionato 1962–2020 (Silvana).
Height: 40cm / Diameter: 28cm
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