There are certain objects in lighting design that mark a turning point, not through complexity, but through clarity. The Sintesi Table Lamp is one of them. Designed in 1975 by Artemide founder Ernesto Gismondi, it was the very first lamp to bear his name, and it introduced an idea that still feels radical: that a task light could be reduced to its absolute essentials and, in doing so, become more versatile and more enduring than anything that came before it.
On its 50th anniversary, Artemide has reissued Sintesi in its four original 1975 colours: white, blue, green, and red. Every detail of the original design has been preserved. We're proud to have it available at Mondoluce.
An Engineer's First Lamp
Gismondi founded Artemide in 1960 and spent decades building it into one of the most respected names in international lighting. But his background wasn't in design. It was in aerospace engineering. For years, he commissioned celebrated external designers to create the lamps that defined Artemide's reputation. Sintesi was the moment he put his own name on a product.
That engineering instinct is immediately apparent. A minimal set of bent-metal components forms the entire lamp: two C-shaped profiles of differing lengths create a distinctive Y-shaped support, allowing the head to tilt through a simple opening and closing motion. The whole form adjusts in height and angle, yet nothing about it feels fussy or mechanical. Every element has a purpose. Nothing is decorative.
Perhaps the most telling detail is that Sintesi folds completely flat, compact enough to slide into its own packaging. It's the kind of considered, almost invisible design intelligence that separates genuinely great products from merely good-looking ones.
Fifty Years, Not a Day Aged
What makes Sintesi remarkable isn't just that it was ahead of its time in 1975. It's that it still holds its own today. The proportions, the material honesty, the mechanical clarity of how it moves and adjusts: none of it feels like a period piece. The reissue doesn't update or reinterpret. It faithfully reproduces the original, right down to the four-colour palette that gives each version its own distinct personality.
The design community has taken notice too. Sintesi recently received a Wallpaper* Design Award, recognising the lamp's formal balance and mechanical intelligence fifty years after its introduction.
See Sintesi at Mondoluce
For all its design credentials, Sintesi is fundamentally a working lamp. The E27 socket ensures long-term adaptability, while the reflector and protective grid deliver focused, functional light. It adjusts intuitively, sits comfortably on a desk or side table, and takes up very little space when not in use.
Sintesi is available to order now through our Melbourne and Sydney showrooms, or online at mondoluce.com. If you'd like to see it in person, our showroom team would love to walk you through the collection.
