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Object of My Desire: Cesta Lamp

November 25, 2016 The Cesta Lamp was designed by Miguel Milá in 1952.

What do I want for Christmas? Why, a Cesta lamp by mid-century Spanish designer Miguel Milá, please Santa. The iconic lamp was designed in 1962 and it’s still in production by Spanish design house Santa & Cole. The Cesta lamp has been on my wishlist radar since my obsession with mid-century design began, but it’s recently popped up again, making an appearance in interiors magazines and in the homes of design lovers around the globe. Top: Photography via The Fine Store.

Photography via Santa & Cole.

I love the Cesta's handcrafted organic oval form and the considered cherry wood frame, which was made using traditional steam-bending techniques. The design is both sturdy and delicate, and it can be used alternately as a floor lamp and table lamp. It’s an exquisite piece of modernist design - at once sturdy and delicate - seemingly informed by traditional Japanese design.

The Cesta lamp, €659 from The Fine Store.

According to Santa & Cole, Cesta’s designer Miguel Milá “almost represents the history of Catalan modern design”. In 1950s Barcelona, he joined a group of like-minded designers and architects to discuss modernity and how to promote design and implant its professional practice.

Miguel Milá with his iconic Cesta lamp. Photography courtesy of Santa & Cole.

Milá himself stated that, “I am in reality a pre-industrial designer. I feel more comfortable with the technical procedures that allow correcting failures, experimenting during the process, and controlling it to the maximum. That is where my preference for noble materials comes from, the preference for materials that know how to age." Santa & Cole has recently released the Cesta's little sister, the (more affordable) Cestita Lamp, which was also designed by Milá in 1962. This version features white opal engineering plastic, which looks just like glass

Santa & Cole's new Cesita, from The Fine Store.

Santa & Cole's new Cestita lamp, €255 from The Fine Store.

The perfect sideboard lamp

Need a nice lamp for your sideboard? Look no further than the Cesta, which has found a new home on the sideboards of many a stylist on Instagram.

Beautiful sideboard styling in Simone Haag's home. Photography by photos by Armelle Habib, via Desire to Inspire and Urbis Magazine.

The organic shape of the Cesta lamp softens the geometric lines in this vignette, by Ines Garp.

Photography by Barcelona Original Designs.

A lamp for every room

The Design Chaser chose the Cesta lamp for her desk.

The Cesta lamp was on The Design Chaser's wishlist "for ages" - and it now graces her desk.

Books, plants and the Cesta. Photography via Barcelona Original Designs.

Stunning living room featuring the Cesta lamp, via Barcelona Original Designs.

A stunning lamp for a stunning living room, perched on the modern fireplace ledge. via Barcelona Original Designs.

A table lamp that is also a floor lamp

The perfect floor lamp in the home of Salva López and José Javier Serrano.

A floor lamp in the home of Salva López and José Javier Serrano. Photography by Silvia Conde.

Design icons: the Butterfly chair and Cesta lamp, via Barcelona Original Designs.

The perfect bedside lamp is also a floor lamp in this low-lying bedroom, by Hunting for George.

Joining the bedside floor collection - the perfect floor lamp for a futon or low-lying bed - by Hunting for George.

For more information, go to Santa & Cole. The Cesta Lamp is available in Australia from ECC Lighting & Furniture; and in the UK from The Conran Store.

Posted at 10:39 am in Design
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Tagged Barcelona Original Designs, ECC Lighting & Furniture, Santa & Cole, The Fine Store

Object of My Desire: Cesta Lamp

The perfect sideboard lamp

A lamp for every room

A table lamp that is also a floor lamp

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