Tonone table lamp Bella

High-legged table lamp made of aluminum and steel, whose shade is open at the top and bottom, so that it a) casts downward light on a surface to be illuminated and b) upward contributes to indirect room lighting. Thoughtful and gentle on the base, each leg of the tripod closes at the bottom with a small rubber cylinder that fits into a custom-fit recess. On a side table or sideboard, the table lamp Bella comes into its own particularly well - and in combination with other Tonone lamps, it becomes part of a well thought-out lighting concept.

The clever modular concept for Tonone luminaires comes from the Netherlands. The designing mind behind it is Anton de Groof, who is neither a designer nor an engineer, but enthusiastic about traditional mechanics and technology. Consequently, the design language of the lamps is that of a mechanical construction that does justice to the industrial manufacturing process and combines simplicity with spirit in a thoughtful way - which places them formally in the environment of Bauhaus and Werkbund. It is noteworthy that the lights are not only mature, but also economically keep the all too rarely realized promise of industrial design to deliver technically as well as aesthetically high quality products at affordable prices.

All models in the series are built from always recurring identical parts. This starts with the heavy cast iron base, made in Belgium, and extends to the steel arm segments, which, like the aluminum shade, are covered with a highly reflective powder coating. Each joint is multiply adjustable thanks to five steel balls between two perforated discs with 23 holes - but only at angles that won't pinch your fingers or cause the lamp to tip. The enclosed adjustment key is reminiscent of old industrial luminaires. Tonone luminaires are switched by a push switch located just outside the shade on the socket. The lampshades are open at the top and bottom, which allows them to shine downward light on a surface to be illuminated and upward to contribute to indirect room lighting.

Anton der Groof has a soft spot for modular systems. This extends to the names of the lights. Thus, this series is called Bella, which on the one hand means "the beautiful one" in Italian, but on the other hand also conceptually unites the luminaires Bolt and Ella, which were the inspiration for the design of the Bella. In concrete terms, de Groof combines the striking, powder-coated shade of the Bolt series with the elegant tripod of the Ella luminaires. The trick here is that the three elements that constitute the shade are simply inserted between two of the extended tripod sections in each case - thus stabilizing the construction. The only screw connection fixes the socket. Visually, the luminaires come in colors more suited to living rooms than to task lighting; the textured powder coating and the bare brass form a harmonious contrast.