Tommaso Barbi:
At the Crossroads of Sculpture and Living
At the Crossroads of Sculpture and Living
25.10.2025
The Italian interiors of the 1960s and 1970s saw a surge of designers who blurred the boundary between decorative object and functional furniture. Among them, Tommaso Barbi carved out a distinct place with his lamps and furnishings that transformed natural forms into sculptural design. His work combined boldness with humour, and today his creations stand as some of the most recognisable examples of Italian mid-century and post-modern lighting.
Barbi’s approach was rooted in a fascination with nature. Leaves, petals and other botanical motifs reappear throughout his work, translated into objects that carry both elegance and a playful touch. Where many of his contemporaries emphasised strict geometry or futuristic abstraction, Barbi allowed organic shapes to dominate, presenting interiors as lively, almost theatrical settings.
His practice extended across lighting, furniture and accessories, but it was his ceramic and metal lamps that became his most enduring contribution. They reveal an ongoing interest in how texture, glaze and surface could create an immediate tactile presence.
Among his most iconic designs are the leaf lamps, produced from the late 1960s through the 1980s, often in collaboration with Italian manufacturers such as B Ceramiche. These lamps, sculpted in ceramic or metal, feature broad overlapping leaves that form a canopy, casting a warm and diffuse light.
The lamp currently offered at Claroscuro belongs to this series, with both shade and base in ceramic, glazed in a glossy green with subtle tonal variations. The leaf motif here is not simply decorative but structural, shaping the entire silhouette of the lamp. It retains its original form and presence, a vivid example of Barbi’s ability to turn a natural fragment into a functional design object.
Although the leaf lamps have come to define Barbi’s reputation, his wider output was diverse. He created tables, chairs and mirrors that carried the same organic vocabulary, often gilded or glazed, with bold surface finishes that made them stand out in modern interiors. His designs balance between luxury and play, offering pieces that are instantly recognisable and highly collectible.
Barbi’s work has been increasingly celebrated in recent years, as collectors and curators look again at Italian design of the 1970s and 1980s. His lamps in particular are sought after, not only for their craftsmanship and theatrical presence but also for their ability to bridge function and fantasy.
The green ceramic lamp presented here shows precisely why his pieces endure: sculptural, whimsical, yet fully resolved as an object of design. It is a reminder that in the right hands, even a table lamp can embody imagination, elegance and a touch of nature’s exuberance.