so, after much hunting and bribing, i came to find that martinelli luce is still producing my two favorite lamps, the cobra (designed by martinelli) and the la ruspa (designed by gae aulenti). only problem is, they do not have a distributor in the US (it was hard enough to find a louis poulsen distributor in the US, sheesh). and after repeated contacts with their london dealer (which they promptly ignored) im stuck with money in hand for two cobra lamps, as well as a la ruspa, but nothing to show. heartbreaking.

so, my call to arms, if anyone here reads this in any continental european country, and could order these for me then ship them over here, i would be more then ecstatic.

has anyone ever had any luck with this? im at a loss on why they dont want to sell me their product.

any help, pointers, words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
-erik

Hey Erik,

I will be interested to hear if you have any luck. I actually recently sold my 4-headed Ruspa lamp but would love to have two of the single ones. I think the aesthetic on the single ones are much nicer and I see they are also available in a silver finish...wow!!

Good luck and let me know of you have success.

Barry Bryant
GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home

ok barry, my jealousy is starting to shine here... I AM SO JEALOUS.

i think i got that out of my system.... whew.

btw, expect a reply from me on your previous email, things have been a tad bit crazy around here, and i was planning on a lengthy reply.

i think i have found how i can work this out, it just so happens that we have a bunch of old family residing in deutschland, so im going to try to contact them about being my spatial front. (i feel like the only way im going to get these is if i make the leap to smuggling international goods through phony coffee importing companies).

so if your interested, im going to give a long distance 'hey, i know we havent talked in a while, but can you do me a favor?' phone call... ill check on the prices, i know the cobra ran about 285 dollars per lamp, and let you know the price for the ruspa.

so barry, i have to ask, do you by chance own any poul henningsen work? i just recently picked up a PH Kontrast, and im just a tad bit over ecstatic for its arrival from overseas...

regards,
erik

Hey Erik,

I will be curious to see what they are selling the Ruspas for...

I don't currently have any Henningsen lighting but have toyed with the idea of the Kontrast, Louvre or small Artichoke. I just ran across this auction site in Denmark that has several lots for sale currently.

Barry Bryant
GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home

so, i finally found a connection for the ruspa's and the cobra lamps. prices are below:

cobra - around $380.oo
ruspa - around $1,522.oo for any color (including silver), or there is a discount for the quad-ruspa version)

if your interested barry, let me know.
-erik

Hey Erik,

Very cool to know the prices on those! Maybe eventually I can buy a pair of the Ruspas...right now a bit too much in the way of home upgrades that need to be done first.

And they still make the quad-ruspa?!?!? I had no idea. Wow!

Barry Bryant
GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home

and i just noticed that retromodern.com is going to carry the martinelli luce line. and after all the hunting and finding a valuable lead... they show up in atlanta! sheesh!

anyways, i most likely after $380 US then import tax/shipping, i probably wont save myself too much money by buying them from europe.



-erik
(soon to be selling my 1964 karmann ghia, quintessential italian design piece)

Hey Erik,

Yep I noticed that also. Was just waiting to see if he posted the other models before I posted the info. Guess this makes your life easier eh??

Barry Bryant
GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home