O-Luce di Giuseppe Ostuni: A Catalogue Raisonné (2 volumes) Thomas Bräniger
New Lumi Press 2021 29.5x29.5cm German/ English 480 pages 642 illustrations + 612 pages, 736 illustrations hardback
Comprehensive catalogue raisonne of O-Luce lighting design many models not illustrated previously.
Giuseppe Ostuni (1907-1994) and his company O-Luce (1947-1982) significantly shaped the history of lighting design in the 20th century and played a key role in the worldwide recognition of Italian design. Despite this fact, Giuseppe Ostuni has remained a well-kept secret in specialist literature and very few of the lighting units he produced are known today. This also applies to the designers who worked for him, such as Franco Buzzi, Tito Agnoli, Marcello Minale, Antonello Vincenti and, in particular, to the work and biography of Joe Colombo, which is presented correctly here for the first time and which calls into question most of the publications that have appeared so far. In terms of its depth and accuracy, this catalogue raisonné is outstanding among all publications that have been published so far on the history of lighting design. It is an indispensable reference work for design researchers, museums, university libraries, collectors, dealers and auction houses.
Volume 1 is a company history founded in 1940 by Giuseppe Ostuni. Ostuni's brother Angelo, together with Franco Buzzi, were the first to make O-Luce known beyond the borders of Italy and were key in shaping light design in the early 1950s. New materials, such as Perspex and industrial glass, or new light source technologies such as the Cornalux or halogen light, had a decisive influence on the design of modern lighting and here too Ostuni and his young designers, above all Tito Agnoli, Joe Colombo and Bruno Gecchelin, were at the forefront of lighting design.
Volume 2 is comprised of the catalogue raisonné, which is divided into four sections: wall lamps, table lamps, floor lamps and ceiling lamps, containing a total of over 560 lamps. Each lighting unit is described with its model number, designer, year of design, materials, dimensions and – in those cases in which they were published – bibliographical details. It also contains a critical chronological overview of those O-Luce lighting units published in specialised literature, magazines and catalogues at the time. A selected bibliography and a comprehensive index of the relevant figures mentioned concludes the second volume.