All the strings of Bellini

Most design enthusiasts may know that Bellini created classics such as the Camaleonda sofa for B&B Italia or the Cab chair for Cassina. Furniture and objects that have already become iconic. But his work extends far beyond those boundaries. Typewriters for Olivetti, TVs for Brionvega, hi-fi systems and headphones for Yamaha are just some of the products in his extensive portfolio. And as if that is not impressive enough, he has also been a consultant for a number of car brands resulting in a new approach to vehicle design, with the concept car "kar-a-sutra" being perhaps the most famous and groundbreaking.

From 1986 to 1991 he was editor of DOMUS, perhaps the world's most prestigious magazine in the field of design, art and architecture, to which he contributed over 60 articles, many of which deal with the relationship between art and industrial design. His architecture is not only at home in Europe, but also in Japan, the USA and Australia, and he is still very much active and productive.

The fact that his work is represented in the largest design and art museums around the world seems both reasonable and obvious, and the MoMa in New York alone has 25 objects signed by Bellini in its permanent exhibition.

And of course, Bellini has also contributed to lighting our lives, with lamps and lighting objects emerging from his drawing board. The Chiara lamp was designed for FLOS in 1969 and is partly named after the Italian word for 'clear', but also shares its name with one of his daughters.

The inspiration for the lamp comes from the fact that natural light usually does not reach us directly, but either radiates down through a cloud or reflects off a wall, for example. Bellini has said that instead of just designing a lamp, he wanted to create an object that could produce an artificial light and then bounce it back from another surface. The idea was simple, but in order to find the shape, he had to work intensively with cardboard and scissors to create a first model, which then served as a model for prototypes made from sheets of thin metal.

Chiara was successful, so much so that a trio of the lamp was created, all in different sizes and with different shapes of more or less open lampshades that allow the light to be reflected in different ways and in different directions.

I thought my cloud would illuminate office environments, but today it could be interpreted as me predicting Steve Job's 'cloud'.

Nuvola Pendant for Nemo Lighting. Nuvola means "cloud" in Italian and Bellini's interpretation of the natural phenomenon came in 1974 as both a ceiling and wall lamp. Why he chose the name Nuvola for his design probably needs no further explanation. The lamps speak their own language as they hang like feathery white clouds in a summer sky. Or, as Mario Bellini himself puts it, "I thought my cloud would illuminate office environments, but today it could be interpreted as me predicting Steve Job's 'cloud'".

Discover more designs by Mario Bellini here.

Chiara Floor Lamp

Flos