Asa Table Lamp

Design: Miguel Milá, 1961 for Santa & Cole.

Asa is composed of an ingenious continuous tubular structure that also defines the top handle (“asa” in Spanish) used for carrying it. The design flows into a minimalist switch, reduced to a simple dot that is activated with a gentle outward pull. Three visible elements—structure, shade, and switch—come together to form a beautifully proportioned whole.

In 1961, this lamp was part of the first collection by Tramo, a company founded by Miguel Milá to self-produce his work in postwar Spain. The name was short for Trabajos Molestos (“Annoying Tasks”)—a term he had coined as a child to describe the kinds of chores he was assigned as the youngest sibling, imagining them as the duties of a family service agency he’d somehow ended up running. Tramo was his first, rudimentary steps into what would later become his true profession: that of a pre-industrial designer, as he liked to describe himself.

Features

• White or black metal structure with matte finish.
• White opal methacrylate lampshade.
• Switch incorporated into the luminaire.