Renowned among architects and interior designers for its slender and unassuming table lamps, pendants and floor lamps in brushed nickel and varnish-coated aluminum, Italian manufacturer Lumina has been producing lighting solutions for residential and commercial properties all over the globe for several decades.
Lumina is the brainchild of founder Tommaso Cimini, a Milanese lighting designer who worked as a technician at Artemide prior to establishing his own firm. In 1975, he created a prototype of a very minimalist table lamp — it comprised little more than an articulated arm, a modest-sized diffuser and a transformer that, instead of being tucked inside the base, was visible to anyone who stopped by Cimini’s workbench to admire his clever fixture.
Cimini’s idea — “lots of light, not much lamp” — was the catalyst for the Daphine table lamp, a deceptively simple design that debuted at the Milan Trade Fair to considerable critical acclaim.
Based on the success of the now-iconic Daphine lamp, Cimini formed Lumina in Sedriano, a town in Milan, in 1980. The new decade marked the start of an albeit brief era of postmodern design, which would yield innovative, unconventional furnishings and decorative objects in Cimini’s native Italy from the likes of the Memphis Group and others. Together with several notable figures in the field of lighting design, including Riccardo Blumer, Yaacov Kaufman, Walter Monici and Emanuele Ricci, Cimini’s firm created a range of sculptural fixtures in appealing contemporary styles.
There were Monici’s Tangram metal and aluminum table lamps, which feature a jointed arm and reflector that rotates 360 degrees. Elsewhere, Kaufman’s Matrix pendant light was made of aluminum and steel with 16 moveable arms fitted with halogen or fluorescent bulbs. In the subsequent years, Lumina opened branches in Switzerland and Germany and collaborated with British architecture and design firm Foster + Partners to create sleek pieces such as the Flo desk lamp, Ilium pendant lamp and EVA glass table lamp.
Cimini died in 1997, leaving Lumina to his son Ettore, who runs the company today. Several Lumina lamps, particularly the Daphine, are held in the collections of museums such as the Brooklyn Museum, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and more, and the company’s fixtures are sold in more than 100 countries all over the world.
Find vintage Lumina table lamps, floor lamps and other lighting on 1stDibs.
Lumina Flo Lounge Floor Lamp in Black Soft by Foster+Partners in STOCK
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
LED light for floor, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 3W-LED w...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Floor Lamp in Black Soft by Foster+Partners
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
LED lights for floor, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 6W-LED which you can switch on with one ...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Lounge Floor Lamp in Matt Black by Foster+Partners
By Lumina, Foster+Partners
Located in New York, NY
LED light for floor, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 3W-LED which you can switch on with one c...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Floor Lamp in Black by Foster+Partners in STOCK
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
LED lights for floor, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 6W-LED which you can switch on with one ...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Lounge Floor Lamp in Gunmetal by Foster+Partners
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
LED light for floor, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 3W-LED which you can switch on with one c...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Floor Lamp in Gunmetal by Foster+Partners
By Lumina, Foster+Partners
Located in New York, NY
LED lights for floor, in varnish coated aluminium and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on the base by 120°. 6W-LED which you can switch on with one...
Aluminum
Brazo Floor Lamp in Black by Pablo Designs
By Pablo Designs, Pablo Pardo
Located in San Francisco, CA
Brazo’s precision machined aluminum construction allows for optimal task lighting control with 360° adjustability and 90° tilt. Brazo features a luminous and energy-efficient LED lig...
Aluminum
Lim L Floor Lamp in Black by Pablo Designs
By Pablo Designs, Pablo Pardo
Located in San Francisco, CA
Lim is a revolutionary ultra-slim LED task light that is as fun to use as it is functional. Lim’s “L” shaped arm discreetly conceals an array of high-output LEDs and utilizes a magne...
Aluminum
Lumina Daphine Terra LED Floor Lamp in Black by Tommaso Cimini
By Lumina, Tommaso Cimini
Located in Warsaw, PL
Lumina Daphine Terra LED table lamp in soft touch black by Tommaso Cimini Undisputed emblem of elegance and functionality, the Daphine represents the essence of Lumina. The idea behind the creation of the Daphine lamp is as simple as it is effective: a pivoting diffuser, an articulated arm in two segments and an electromechanical transformer on a cylindrical base between two metal caps. The Daphine first “saw the light” in a small workshop in Sedriano (Milan province) in 1975 thanks to the skilful hands of Tommaso Cimini, a mechanical engineering expert, and the machines he had retooled for the purpose. The Daphine springs from Tommaso Cimini’s design philosophy, “Lots of light, not much lamp”, which is still the essence of every product bearing the name of Lumina, the company he set up in 1980. 45 years on, the Daphine’s aesthetic and functionality are unchanged, which goes to show the validity of the original idea. Tried and tested throughout its long production history, this lamp lends itself to countless uses in public and private places, from reading desks in libraries to pianos, from jewellery display counters...
Metal
Black Minimalist Italian Adjustable Floor Lamp with Swiveling Arm
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A sleek and refined Italian floor lamp in matte black enamel with a geometric, minimalist silhouette and highly functional design. The lamp features a right-angle arm with a rotating...
Enamel
Nemo Untitled Reading Spot LED 3000K Floor Lamp in Black by Bernhard Osann
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Family of table, floor and wall LED lamps in extruded matt black painted aluminum with joints for flexible and dynamic positioning of the light. Available in the version with the lin...
Aluminum
Post Modern Black Grip Floor Lamp By Achille Castiglioni For Flos, Italy 1980s
By Achille Castiglioni
Located in Norwich, England
Post Modern "Grip" floor lamp by Italian architect and designer Achille Castiglioni (1918-2002) for Flos. Labelled. Circa 1985. The lamp has a powder coated steel base, rising on an...
Metal, Brass
