This week Italian modern design is shining over the auction world with highlights at Cambi Casa d’Aste in Genoa and Phillips in New York. And this is the reason we chose this ingenious and elegant modern chandelier by Angelo Lelii from Cambi Aste’s Design auction, which takes place on December 16.

Made in c. 1950 for Arredoluce, this chandelier features frosted glass, brass and enameled aluminum. The geometrical design is a hat tip to Piet Mondrian’s “Composition B (No.II) with Red” from 1935, presenting a 3D model of the De Stijl painter’s cutting edge neo-plasticism. Tate Modern says that Mondrian “saw his carefully composed canvases as microcosms, or emblems, of a perfect equilibrium in art and in all spheres of life, and hoped that ‘neoplastic’ principles would underlie a future ideal society.” Likewise, the modernist designers of the mid-century were in search of a perfect equilibrium of art and design to serve the modern society.

Angelo Lelii, whose works are rising in popularity once again thanks to the auction market, worked with superstar designers such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass in the 1950s and produced excellently executed lighting for Italian design manufacturer Arredoluce. Lelii’s unmistakable style and expert craftsmanship demonstrates in the effortless modernity of his design, quality of materials and near invisible welding of brass.

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