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 Floor Lamp in Matte Yellow 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
Lumina Flo Desk Lamp in Matte Yellow by Foster+Partners
By Lumina, Foster+Partners
Located in New York, NY
LED light for desk, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on base by 120°. 6W-LED which you can switch on with one click ...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Bedside Lamp in Matte Yellow by Foster+Partners
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
LED light for bedside, in varnish coated aluminum and steel. Its head rotates by 300° for direct lighting, the arm pivots on base by 120°. 3W-LED which you can switch on with one cli...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Table Lamp with F20 Grommet in Matte Yellow by Foster+Partners
By Foster+Partners, Lumina
Located in New York, NY
A light fitting in aluminum and steel, to be mounted on surfaces like desks, shelves, etc. with an arm pivoting on its base by 120°. Its head rotates by 300°. Lighting source is 6w-L...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Table Lamp with F46 Grommet in Matte Yellow by Foster+Partners
By Lumina, Foster+Partners
Located in New York, NY
A light fitting in aluminum and steel, to be mounted on surfaces like desks, shelves, etc. with an arm pivoting on its base by 120°. Its head rotates by 300°. Lighting source is 6w-L...
Aluminum
Lumina Flo Wall M Lamp in Matte Yellow by Foster+Partners
By Lumina, Foster+Partners
Located in New York, NY
LED wall lamp, in varnish coated aluminium and steel. Head rotates by 300°, arm pivots by 90°+ 90°. 3W-LED which you can switch on with one click for full light intensity, with two c...
Aluminum
Yellow Lampe Gras N° 411 Floor Lamp by Bernard-Albin Gras
By Bernard-albin Gras
Located in Geneve, CH
Yellow lampe Gras N° 411 floor lamp by Bernard-Albin Gras Dimensions: D 72 x W 32 x H 211 cm Materials: steel Also available: different colors and other shade available. All ou...
Steel
Mid Century Modern, Italian Floor Lamp in Yellow Lacquered Metal by Gae Aulenti
By Gae Aulenti
Located in London, GB
Modernist floor lamp in distressed lacquered metal with Perspex shade by Gae Aulenti for Poltronova. This is an early Model example of 'Locus Solus'...
Metal
Lumina Daphine Terra Led Floor Lamp in Matt Yellow by Tommaso Cimini
By Tommaso Cimini, Lumina
Located in Warsaw, PL
Lumina Daphine terra LED table lamp in matt yellow 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...
Metal
Arne Jacobsen AJ Floor Lamp in Soft Lemon for Louis Poulsen
By Arne Jacobsen, Louis Poulsen
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Arne Jacobsen AJ Floor Lamp in Soft Lemon for Louis Poulsen. The AJ series was part of the lighting collection renowned Danish designer Arne Jacobsen created for the original SAS Ro...
Steel, Zinc
Nemo Lampe de Bureau Reading Floor Lamp E14 in Yellow by Charlotte Perriand
By Charlotte Perriand
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Starting from the necessity of illuminating the faces reflected in the mirror of a cabinet designed for the famous French glassworks Boussois, in 1965 Charlotte Perriand designed the...
Glass
Lightsome Honey Yellow Floor Lamp by Warm Nordic
Located in Geneve, CH
Lightsome Honey Yellow Floor Lamp by Warm Nordic Dimensions: D45 x W47 x H132 cm Material: Lacquered steel, Solid brass Weight: 2 kg Also availab...
Brass, Steel
