New Pamono Biconica 2217 Floor Lamp by Elio Martinelli for Martinelli Luce, 1980s

Elio Martinelli was born on November 19, 1922. After a childhood and adolescence spent in Lucca, he undertook scenography studies in Florence where he graduated. Taking over the family business after the premature loss of his father, he began a collaboration with a company in Lucca for which he took care of the interior design for public places. He began to design and produce his own lamps to be included in his projects. This is how Martinelli Luce was born, in a basement located in Piazza Bernardini in Lucca with the few tools necessary for a small production. He married Anna in 1949, and together they began to participate in the most important trade fairs of that period, but it was with the Jirst edition of Eurodomus in Genoa in 1966 and the meeting with Giò Ponti that Elio Martinelli and his company acquired a international prominence.