The TELEGONO lamp, launched in the 1970 IKEA catalogue, was designed by renowned Italian architect and industrial designer Vico Magistretti, for Italian lighting makers Artemide. Ingvar Kamprad and his co-workers had a great interest in plastic as a strong, functional material that was suitable for mass production. Also, up until the oil crisis of 1973 the low price of plastic materials was attractive. As early as spring 1960 Ingvar had visited the Milan Furniture Fair, showing an interest in lighting that he felt were part of a “Scandinavian line, possibly with certain Italian elements”. So it was not that strange that he fell for TELEGONO when it was presented in Milan.
The lamp’s design was based on the same rotatable shade solution as Vico Magistretti’s better-known table lamp, Eclisse from 1966. Since TELEGONO was made of plastic it was easy to direct, and the tilting inner shade made it possible to vary the light. It was sold by IKEA for a further year or so after its launch.
