PIN-UP magazine reviews the work Luigi Caccia Dominioni
Excerpt from the article: “One of the earliest works to bring him fame was the iconic Radio Phonola 548, designed in collaboration with Livio and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (older brother of the more well-known Achille) on the occasion of the Vll Triennale in Milan in 1940. Combining a novel technical solution, a strong chromatic statement, and rounded contours modeled in Bakelite, the Phonola 548, set a new standard for modern radio design in its clear insistence on the compactness of the object.
The same inflection of an easily recognizable typological image through a unique fusion of industrial production and refined craftsmanship, in this case responsive to ideas originating in the artistic avant-grades, is evident one of Caccia’ seminal works, the Sasso lamp of 1948. Integrating the organic form of a natural object trouve (a base made out of a polished river pebble) with the compact tectonic expression of the brass supporting rod and black enameled-metal reflector, the Sasso effectively unites natural and industrial elements at an intimate domestic scale. Since the metal reflector was taken directly from an actual Singer sewing-machine lamp, the pebble is not the only found element of the ensemble. Today Sasso lamps are extremely rare , and were originally demonstration and/or presentation pieces, symbols of the inventive spirit of Azucena itself – a fact which only enhances their aura was distinctive one-offs that take the form of highly crafted multiples instead of objects of design in the conventional sense.”
