Design Sleuth: The Tolomeo Light Takes a Turn - Remodelista
Mirko Beetschen and Stephane Houlmann of Zürich’s Bergdorf Agency for Concepts and Communication recently collaborated with architect Nick Ruef on the remodel of a 200-year-old chalet in the Bernese Oberland. After poring over the project more than once, a detail caught my eye: Several of the rooms feature Artemide’s classic Tolomeo Wall Spot Light installed upside down, so that the design takes on a different look and is more maneuverable. Photographs via Bergdorf Agency for Concepts and Communication, unless noted. A kitchen nook lit by two inverted Tolomeo lights in the chalet. Installed upside down, a Tolomeo lamp is used as a bedside light. Another Tolomeo light crops up above the mirror in one of the chalet bathrooms–this one, too, is inverted. See Steal This Look: An Attic Bath in a Spectrum of Greens.) An Italian design classic, the Tolomeo Wall Spot Light from Artemide–installed here the correct way–is widely available, including from Y Lighting for $240. Photograph by Izabella Simmons. Inspired by the chalet project, I installed our bathroom lights upside down and directly on a mirror wall. By inverting the S bracket (the part that attaches to the wall), and by turning the shade 180 degrees, the lamp gets a new look and function.