When designer Lennart Centervall designed the FOTO floor lamp, he was clearly inspired by the lighting in photography studios. His idea was to create a lamp that provided directed lighting, ideal for reading or needlework. The shade was height adjustable and rotatable, so the lamp could be pointed in any direction.
Lennart had the same idea about a directed light when he designed a pendant version of FOTO. The lamp was described as “focus lighting for plants or a music centre, for example” when it was presented for the first time in the 1979 IKEA catalogue.
FOTO was a popular lamp in both versions. Its light, lacquered aluminium shade came in several colours: bright blue, black, white, signal red, yellow and clear-lacquered aluminium. The pendant version of the lamp is still sold at IKEA in 2021, in lacquered aluminium and two different sizes.
