Floor-standing lamp BUL-BO

aluminumsteeloriginal design

The Bul-Bo lamp belongs to the series of furnishings designed for the Olivetti Residential Center in Ivrea (Turin) by the architectural firm Gabetti & Isola (Roberto Gabetti, Aimaro Isola, Guido Drocco, Luciano Re) between 1968 and 1971. The context in which the designers worked was still strongly influenced by the enlightened mind of Adriano Olivetti, who died a few years earlier. With the creation of Bul-Bo, a playful, ironic and functional lamp was created, in perfect coherence to that climate of “rebellion against schemes” which, in the second half of the 1960s, would have left an indelible mark on costumes. 50 years later, Axolight re-proposes this iconic lighting object by introducing contemporary elements in the philological respect of the original design. Since 2023 the Bul-Bo lamp designed by Gabetti and Isola is part of the permanent collection of TRIENNALE MILANO. “To create the new Bul-Bo, a lamp already patented – explains the Axolight team and to apply contemporary materials and production processes to it, we found it vital and decisive to resort to an extremely emotional maieutics exercise that led us to the reconstruction of the design thinking of the creators of the work. Having given a second life to a lamp so important for the history of modern design – which, fifty years after its first edition, remains incredibly strong, non-conforming, free and revolutionary – makes us proud, thrilled and enriched”. “In developing the new Bul-Bo, Axolight set itself the goal of recreating an object externally faithful to its original form, but able to fulfil its modern lighting function”.