Rare Tenderly Floor Lamp by Shigeru Uchida for Pastoe 1985

Fantastic floor lamp, model Tenderly, designed by the great Japanese designer Shigeru Uchida in 1985 for Pastoe. Not many of these lamps are made, very hard to find and collectible piece. The lamp is marked with the Pastoe label. The lamp’s telescoping rod and lamp supported on a tripod was inspired by a photographer’s light stand. The halogen bulb in its inverted pyramid shade points directly upward to a perforated square metal screen, which both reflects the light and allows it to pass through, creating ambient lighting for a room. Uchida based his initial sketch for this tilting screen on “the image of Japanese men holding up their sun visors to see who is good-looking. The name Tenderly comes from Elvis Presley’s song “Softly and Tenderly,” reflecting Uchida's interest in American pop music of the mid-twentieth century. Designed at the height of the excesses of postmodernism, Uchida's work anticipated the new minimalism of the 1990s. The lamp is in excellent condition. Hardly any traces of use.