‘TIZIO’ HAS turned 50. Not as one might think the half-century of a faded Italian pop star or the diminutive of a former AC Milan striker, but in this case that of an infinitely variable work lamp and cult object from the Artemide lighting company. And, for those who savour minimalist aesthetics and clever design, the ne plus ultra of desktop illumination.
The English translation of Tizio is something like, the Italian equivalent of ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’. His train of thought at the time was that after Tizio he could coax its designer into completing a wittily named lighting trio with ‘Caio’ and ‘Sempronio’ as companion pieces.
