Model 566

Astep, founded by Alessandro Sarfatti, grandson of Gino Sarfatti, it is a design company that looks at the future respecting tradition and Made in Italy. The collection includes the re-edition of the famous VV Cinquanta designed by Italian architect Vittoriano Viganó, the historical Model 2065 by Gino Sarfatti and the innovative Candle signed Francisco Gomez Paz. In 1939 Gino Sarfatti founded Arteluce, a company that – for the first time – introduced design to the lighting business. In 1978 Riccardo Sarfatti created Luceplan with her wife Sandra Severi and architect Paolo Rizzatto: they linked design with technology and envisaged a new business model – working with specialized, talented and carefully handpicked industrial craftsmen – that became synonymous with “Made in Italy” quality and innovation. Both Arteluce and Luceplan created one icon after another, luminaires not only of timeless beauty but that also embed the meaning of evolution. Astep creates new products for the home – objects that give digital technologies a more meaningful standing in our domestic lives.

Gino Sarfatti was born in Venice in 1912 into a wealthy family. He moved to Genoa and then enrolled in the faculty of Aereonaval Engineering, failing to complete his studies because of the sanctions imposed on Italy by the League of Nations with the 1935 naval blockade. He thus moved to Milan where he founded Arteluce in 1939 with some members of the Milanese society, soon becoming its general manager. In 1943 the bombing of Milan forced the family to flee to Switzerland, while Arteluce remained active, within permitted limits, with Vittoriano Viganò as director. Upon the artist's return to Italy, he founded ArCon "Arredamento Contemporaneo" in Rome in 1950, a retailer of top brands in the design world. In 1954 he won the Compasso d'Oro with Model 559, while he won the Gran Prix at the Milan Triennale for his Models 1063 and 1065. At the end of 1973 Sarfatti decided to sell Arteluce to Flos, thus ending his working career. He died in Gravedona in 1985.