Carlo Nason’s lighting often begins with a simple idea: allowing glass to determine how light is experienced. Designed for AV Mazzega during the 1970s, the LP 269 belongs to a family of lighting in which individual glass panels surround the light source, turning a compact geometric construction into an object that changes considerably once illuminated.

Design

This set of two table lamps is composed of thick glass panels arranged around a square metal structure. Clear crystal is combined with tobacco-toned glass and a contrasting frosted element, creating subtle variations in transparency across each side. Rather than forming a continuous shade, the individual pieces overlap and project beyond one another, leaving the construction visible.

Each glass panel has an irregular, heavily textured surface with softened edges and variations that catch and distort the light. Once switched on, these characteristics become more pronounced: the clear sections produce reflections, the tobacco glass introduces an amber tone, and the frosted glass softens the direct glow. Small metal fittings secure the glass to the inner structure, forming part of the visual composition rather than being concealed.

A pale metal base continues the square geometry and raises the glass slightly above the surface. Nason’s arrangement contrasts the weight and irregularity of Murano glass with this restrained architectural framework. Closely related LP 269 examples are documented as wall and ceiling lamps, and period-related sources also mention table-lamp variations within the same glass vocabulary.

Placed together, the lamps work particularly well on a console, sideboard or pair of bedside tables, where their similarities and individual variations in the glass remain visible. They can also be mounted to the ceiling.

These LP 269 lamps capture a characteristic aspect of 1970s Italian lighting: a relatively simple structure transformed through material, reflection and filtered light. As a pair, they create a balanced composition without appearing mechanically identical.

Condition

The lamps remain in good vintage condition, with signs of use and age visible to the metal elements. The glass is well preserved in the supplied photographs; irregularities, bubbles and variations in its surface are consistent with the character of the glass rather than uniform machine production.