(established 1959)
Founded in 1959 in Milan by Ernesto Gismondi and Sergio Mazza, in its early years the company moved rapidly from craft-based to industrial design. Noted particularly for its lighting it includes amongst its most celebrated designs Magistretti's Eclipse (1966) and Richard Sapper's iconic Tizio (1972) lamps. The company also produced furniture, exploring the possibilities of plastics as in Magistretti's Selene dining chair and Studio 80 table. In 1991 the company bought the Murano glassworks and launched its Milano-Venezia light collection made in Murano glass. The company has received widespread recognition for its conspicuous success in gaining numerous design awards and prizes. These have ranged from the Compasso d'Oro (Magistretti, Eclipse light, 1967, De Lucchi-Fassina Tolomeo halogen lamp, 1989, and a company Career Award, 1995) and the Milan Triennali (five awards) to the European Design Prize 2000 (Gismondi, e.light) and IF Product Design Award 2001, Hanover. Artemide products are also well represented in leading design museums including the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, Stuttgart. By the early 21st century Artemide had production centres in Italy, France, Germany, the United States, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, as well as sixteen subsidiaries and affiliated companies and 35 distributors worldwide.
