Arteluce was a company that specialises in lighting

Lighting

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...

 and interior design

Interior design

Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...

 and was founded by aeronautical engineer and modern lighting pioneer Gino Sarfatti in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

.

Arteluce gained renown in the 1950s as a national and international reference point for the modern architecture movement in lighting. Commissioned designers included Franco Albini

Franco Albini

Franco Albini was an Italian Neo-Rationalist architect and designer.A native of Robbiate, near Milan, Albini obtained his degree in architecture at Politecnico di Milano University in 1929 and began his professional career working for Gio Ponti. He started displaying his works at...

 and Marco Zanuso

Marco Zanuso

-The early years:Marco Zanuso was born in Milano May 14, 1916.He was one of a group of Italian designers from Milan shaping the international idea of "good design" in the postwar years. Trained in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano university, he opened his own design office in 1945...

. Arteluce gained attention through participation in many exhibitions in Italy and abroad, winning a Diploma of Honour at the 1951 (IX) Milan Triennale and Compasso d'Oro

Compasso d'Oro

Compasso d'Oro is the name of an Industrial Design award originated in Italy in 1954 by the La Rinascente company from an original idea of Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli. From 1964 it has been hosted exclusively by Associazione per il Disegno Industriale . It is the first and most recognized award...

 awards in 1954 and 1955. In 1974 the company became a division of the Flos

Flos

Flos is also the name of a mathematical work by Fibonacci.Flos is a genus of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae....

 group, employing designers such as Matteo Thun

Matteo Thun

Matteo Thun, born in 1952 in Bolzano, Italy, is a famous architect and designer.-Early years:Thun studied at the Salzburg Academy under the supervision of Oskar Kokoschka. He then obtained a degree in architecture in Florence, Italy, in 1975...

, Ezio Didoni, Perry A. King and Marc Sadler.

A number of pieces are in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

 in New York.

Notable projects

Marc Sadler was awarded a Compasso d'Oro

Compasso d'Oro

Compasso d'Oro is the name of an Industrial Design award originated in Italy in 1954 by the La Rinascente company from an original idea of Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli. From 1964 it has been hosted exclusively by Associazione per il Disegno Industriale . It is the first and most recognized award...

 in 1995 for his Drop 2 wall lamp.