Babel Table Lamp

Design: Àngel Jové, 1971 for Santa & Cole.

The Babel lamp evokes the biblical story of the unfinished tower where languages were confounded, victims of their own ambition. But this time, the perspective is different: the entirety of its bold form is perfectly finished; the tower is complete, radiating a defiant power of attraction. A monumental, eye-catching lamp-sculpture that invites all kinds of confidences, even in the most private languages.

During Spain’s democratic transition, a young and rebellious group of artists and architects began planting the seeds that would eventually bloom into the vibrant explosion of modern night bars that appeared in the early 1980s—a stark contrast to the somber, modest Barcelona emerging from dictatorship. Àngel Jové was one of these urban conspirators, who conceived Babel to dress the bars of those establishments.

Both the material it is made from, and its production process are the key attributes that make Babel such an authentic lamp. Handmade by the artisans of Sarral, no two pieces are exactly alike.

Solid at the base and hollowed out for the shade, the alabaster transforms each lamp into a work of art born as a provocation against the dominant taste of the time. In the 1970s, alabaster was considered a kitsch material—lacking the structural strength of marble and the translucent nobility of onyx—and was mostly used for cheap tourist souvenirs.,

Features

• Alabaster column.
• Dimmer included.