Cooper Hewitt says...
Elio Martinelli co-founded the firm of Martinelli Luce in Lucca, Italy, in 1956, to fabricate his own lighting fixtures for use in commercial establishments seeking innovative modern lighting design in metal and plastic. In the 1960s and 70s the firm experimented with a variety of plastics, broadening its range to include hanging fixtures and table and floor lamps for residential as well as commercial interiors.
Elio Martinelli’s original inspiration came from nature and pure geometric forms, particularly the square and the sphere. As the firm continued to expand, Martinelli collaborated with leading post-war architects and designers, including Gae Aulenti, Sergio Asti, Studio Orlandini, and Marc Sadler, among others, to create fixtures characterized by a sense of originality and up-to-the minute style, as well as attention to function. Several of the firm’s designs from the 1960s have become notable period works, such as Martinelli's Cobra lamp (1968) and Gae Aulenti's Ruspa table lamp (1969), and are held in museum collections, such as that of the Centre Pompidou, in Paris.
