Luigi Bandini Buti model 4021 blue metacrilato pendant lamp for Kartell, Italy, 1960s

Luigi Bandini Buti model 4021 blue metacrilato pendant lamp for Kartell, Italy, 1960s

A striking Space Age pendant lamp designed by architect Luigi Bandini Buti for Kartell, Italy, in the 1960s. Two hemispherical methacrylate (acrylic) shells are superimposed, a glossy sky-blue upper dome nested over a milky-white opaline lower globe, and joined at three points with nickel-plated brass fixing screws, giving the piece its signature UFO-like silhouette. The white lower half diffuses the light beautifully, while the colored upper shell adds a graphic, pop-art punch that has made this model a favorite among collectors of 1960s Italian plastics design.

Offered here are two pieces, sold individually or as a pair. Both have been professionally polished and rewired, and are ready to install.

Dimensions

Dimensions: Height 14.6 in (37 cm) x Width 15 in (38 cm)

Details

Materials: Methacrylate (acrylic/Perspex), nickel-plated brass fittings, new cloth-wrapped flex

Condition

Condition: Vintage, professionally polished and rewired; ready for use

Wear consistent with age and use.

About Luigi Bandini Buti

Designer: Luigi Bandini Buti (1913–2003) was a Milanese architect and industrial designer who became one of Kartell’s key lighting designers during the 1960s, the golden decade of Italian plastics design. Working in methacrylate, the material that defined Kartell’s identity in that era, he produced a family of hemispherical dome lamps in floor, table, and pendant formats, prized today for their bold, minimal geometry and saturated color combinations.

Manufacturer: Founded in 1949 by engineer Giulio Castelli, Kartell pioneered the use of industrial plastics in furniture and lighting design, collaborating with figures such as Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Gino Colombini, and Anna Castelli Ferrieri. By the 1960s the company had become synonymous with Italian design’s embrace of new materials, and pieces from this period, like the present lamp, are now recognized as icons of the movement, held in major design collections worldwide.

Price is per pendant.