Fragile Gallery Opens New HQ with Arredoluce Lamp Exhibition in Milan

Fragile, a gallery specializing in historical and contemporary design founded in the late 1990s by Alessandro Padoan and Gino Bosa and now led by Padoan and Alessandro Plamaghini, has inaugurated its new headquarters in a former industrial laboratory designed by Elio Frisia in the 1950s at Via Simone D'Orsenigo 27, Milan. The space, renovated by architect Mauro Manfrin, serves as a research and cataloging venue for author ornaments, furnishings, and jewelry by Italian design icons. The inaugural exhibition, "Anni Luce. Arredoluce. 100 Lampade," curated by Anty Pansera, runs from April 5 to May 12, 2024, and presents one hundred historical lamps by Arredoluce, a lighting design company founded in 1943 by Angelo Lelii and acquired by Padoan and Plamaghini in 2015. The show includes iconic pieces such as Triennale, featuring a linear structure with three movable arms and colored diffusers, first presented at the VII Triennale di Milano in 1947; Stellina, from the 1950s, included in a shipment to the Kennedy family; Cobra, from the 1960s, one of the first lamps with a magnetized orientable globe; and Golden gate, designed by Nanda Vigo and presented at Euroluce in May 1970. Pansera emphasizes the quality of details and finishes, such as turned solid brass and invisible welds, as hallmarks of Arredoluce products, distinguishing them from copies.