Chandelier with Incalmo Murano Glass and Chalcedony from Ottavio Missoni, 1980s

This intriguing and graceful chandelier represents the quintessence of the eighties. That was the roaring decade of fashion houses, especially Italian ones, and of expansion beyond fashion. Armani, Fendi Casa, Cavalli Casa. Ottavio Missoni created this beautiful collection with his iconic color palette. In the same period, after a century of incandescent light bulbs, a new revolutionary light bulb completely changed the world of lighting: halogens. Single point lights, so bright that the light was aimed at the ceiling to be reflected, whether with floor torches, sconces or redesigned chandeliers. Everything became bright, shops, houses and shows. This Missoni chandelier is equipped with a long linear halogen lamp. It still has the original 118mm 200W halogen. The bulb is supported by a metal ring covered in aluminium. Below is a white lattimo hemisphere for downstream lighting. The white glass and disc are supported by a perforated black enamelled metal and the small space between the glass elements allows air to circulate and protects the glass from overheating. The masterpiece is the 64 cm incalmo disc (almost 26 inches in diameter). Created by Paolo Crepax, unsurpassed master of calm. A transparent band surrounds an internal part with a marbled chalcedony glass finish. This was made on milky glass so that the top side is milky white, to make the colors underneath appear more vibrant and to reflect the white light. This is not the chalcedony that was rediscovered a few years later by Loredano Rosin and Dino Rosin. This is a real painting of tossed and torn threads that requires a talented and timely artist. If you mix a little less, the result becomes ordinary; if you mix it too much, you get the brownish-purple color that everyone experienced in childhood. After creating the design, the colored bowl receives the transparent shell and is then opened by turning the entire piece. If the glass is not a uniform temperature and the incalm is not set correctly, you get a wobbly bowl, not a perfect disk. A perfect combination of the decade to which the light belongs. A breakthrough design to make your home unique. The 80s ended with the new, smaller halogen bulbs, the G9, but above all 12V halogen bulbs which dominated the new decade with multipoint lights. In every decade there has been a radical change, first with ugly fluorescents and today with LEDs. There are now 118mm 14W R7 replacements available (which provide similar light output to a 120W halogen), so you can reuse these fixtures. The height indicated is that of the image, but the sliding part allows for a drop of another 30 cm. .