SALISCENDI PENDANT LIGHT

In the heart of Milan

With two examples made of ruby-red lacquered metal, the Saliscendi Pendant lights from Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni The pendant lamps, specially designed for this location, attracted attention at the inauguration of the Milan Chamber of Commerce in 1958. Stilnovo manufactured. The special feature: The closer the light source is to the table, the more the direct light concentrates on the surface below. Meanwhile, the indirect light emanating from the top of the light fixture illuminates the ceiling and is reflected by the diffuser in between.

Saliscendi and Stilnovo

When the light source rises and moves away from the table surface, there is more light in the room, but the illumination is weaker. This is where the lampshade – now much closer to the light source – comes into play, reflecting the indirect radiation and increasing the amount of light diffused into the surrounding area. To this day – and more than five decades have passed – this lighting concept remains absolutely unique, even daring, and still visionary. Precisely the right challenge for a company like Stilnovo, because for its founder, Bruno Gatta, no challenge is too great.

Intimacy and lighting

The ‚Sala della Giunta‘ was designed by the Castiglioni brothers in the late 1950s with a mahogany floor and walls paneled in hazelnut cloth, on which a collection of paintings by Gaetano Previati was arranged. The large table and shelves are made of light walnut. Therefore, a light fixture was needed above the conference table that could both illuminate the entire room and create a sense of intimacy. It quickly became clear that the width of the table and the size of the room required two light sources in addition to a large, diffused light fixture, as a single one did not seem sufficient to the Castiglioni brothers.

Light – direct and indirect

Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni had an intuition when developing and refining their lighting concept in 1957. They created a movable lamp capable of changing the intensity of the light by moving it up or down using a system of rollers. This system alone made it possible to shift the light source up and down, thus altering the light intensity both on the table and in the surrounding area.

Up and down

At the same time, this same system offers the possibility of positioning a light-reflecting disc above the light source closer to or further away from it. Direct and indirect light – both combined. The disc and the lamp body slide along the cable suspension in opposite directions, moving closer to or further away from each other. The distance between the two lighting elements changes with a simple movement: a fingertip grasps the designated loop in the base of the lamp body and pushes upwards or pulls downwards – ‚saliscendi‘ – Italian for ‚up and down‘ – depending on the desired effect.

From 120 to 60 centimeters

During the restructuring of the Chamber of Commerce in Milan in the early 2000s, the two prototypes of the Saliscendi were pendant light The original design was almost completely destroyed. Its size, with a diameter of 120 centimeters, would have been too large and impractical for a market launch anyway. Therefore, all elements of the Saliscendi pendant lamp are reduced by half compared to the original, including the reflector disc, which shrinks from 120 to 60 centimeters. The cable pulley system is redesigned for smooth and quiet operation. The original coiled power cable is eliminated. The suspension cables along which the Saliscendi components slide now also serve as the power supply. Finally, state-of-the-art lighting technology is used: Two LED sources provide a soft, pleasant dual light distribution, which, thanks to DALI control, can even be dimmed using standard electrical appliances.

Saliscendi – our conclusion

Today, the heart of the Saliscendi pendant lamp beats to the rhythm of contemporary style and in the colors white-gray, grass green, and ruby red, without having lost its original charm. The Saliscendi pendant lamp, a licensed re-edition of the original design by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni from 1957, is available at Stilnovo Partner. TAGWERC Available in all versions.