Urano Lamp

The luminous beauty of Bianco Carrara marble

Urano is a sphere-like lamp created by hollowing out a cube of Bianco Carrara marble. “It’s shape was so pure, soft and sculpture-like” says Gabriele Salvatori, CEO of Salvatori “that when Elisa showed it to me, I was immediately struck by its beauty.” The deceptive simplicity, the purity of form and the sense of suspension all contribute to making Urano seem more like a celestial body than a lamp. And it all starts with a block of marble. “We certainly didn’t make life easy for ourselves.

I wanted to stretch the marble, making the profile as thin as possible, right down to almost 4 millimetres so that the eye sees just the finest of edges, almost like a veil. Then, gradually, moving away from the rim, the marble becomes thicker” explains Gabriele Salvatori, the passion exuding from him.

The choice of marble is crucial. “The first stage is to find the right block. It must be pure, with not a single deformity or impurity” he explains. “Then, we cut thick slices from the block and we make a cylinder from each of them. They’re then placed on a machine which creates the round shape.

Then we use a diamond drill to carve them out, slowing down the speed as we go and filling the lamp with water to avoid overheating and any hairline cracks developing. Then comes the final “sanding” step which is done by hand and only by our most experienced staff. This is when we get down to the famous 4 millimetres.”
Each lamp takes at least two weeks to create: “But this is not a mere lamp. It’s a sculpture”.