Bruno Gecchelin

Bruno Gecchelin was born in Milan on 25 September 1939. A designer and architect, he is one of Italy's great specialists in light: over his career he has designed more than a hundred lamps.

As a boy he drew and modelled cars, and that passion led him to a technical school in Milan. Before he had even finished, he was hired by Olivetti and sent to the studio of Ettore Sottsass. On his first day Sottsass looked at his drawings and explained that this was not design but styling, pure form.

He stayed with Sottsass for about fifteen years, working on electronic machines, terminals and office furniture, and also on the Valentine typewriter. In the same years he designed refrigerators and gas stoves for Indesit and furniture for Busnelli. Meanwhile he studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and, in the second half of the 1970s, opened his own studio in Milan.

The lamps

His first lamp was Wing, designed for Oluce at the request of its founder Giuseppe Ostuni, who asked him for a table lamp for the new halogen bulbs. For Oluce he also designed Dogale and Perla.

After Wing, other clients followed. In the mid-1970s he designed the Mezzaluna floor lamp for Skipper. The company had a shop on Via Manzoni in Milan and marble quarries in Tuscany, and Gecchelin used marble for some models.

Gong - table lamp - for Skipper

In the early 1980s came Gong, again for Skipper: a large sandblasted glass disc held by a black marble base, lit from behind by a halogen bulb.

He went on to design the Ring lamp for Arteluce, Rigoletto, Paggio and Messer for Venini, and Malia for Tronconi. For iGuzzini he designed the Shuttle spotlights and, with Laura Maria Mandelli, the Cirillo lamp.

Beyond light

He also worked for Fiat (accessories for the Panda), Poltrona Frau, Fratelli Guzzini and the Japanese company Matsushita, for which he designed a bathroom system. He has taught at IED, the Politecnico di Milano and the Brera Academy, and since 1996 has also devoted himself to painting and printmaking.

He has received three Compasso d'Oro awards: for iGuzzini's Shuttle spotlights in 1989, for Aermec's AGH 171 air conditioner in 1991 and for the Latina citrus press by Fratelli Guzzini in 2004. Other honours include the IF award in Hannover and the BIO in Ljubljana.

In an interview he said he had managed never to copy his own work. For him an object should be useful, pleasurable and affordable, and start from what each company can really make.