“Bot” Wall Lamp — Giusto Toso for Leucos, Murano, 1971

Bot Wall Lamp — Giusto Toso for Leucos, Murano, 1971

A Sculptural Disc of Smoked Murano Glass, Radiating Warmth from a Jet-Black Ring

Designed in 1971 by Murano-born glass master Giusto Toso for Leucos, the “Bot” is a hallmark of Italian space-age lighting design: a single, hand-blown disc of fumé (smoked) glass, tapering back into a shallow cone that houses the light source. At the disc’s center sits Toso’s signature detail — a glossy black glass ring encircling the mouth of the shade, punctuated by a small chromed or brass finial. When lit, the smoked glass diffuses the bulb into a soft, amber-toned glow that ripples outward across the disc’s surface, while the black ring reads almost like a pupil at the center of an eye — a quietly graphic, almost Pop touch against the organic warmth of the glass.

The “Bot” was produced by Leucos in several formats — wall sconce, ceiling flush mount, and table lamp — and this example is the wall-mounted version, retaining its original hand-blown Murano glass shade, in warm smoked tones that shift from deep amber at the center to pale straw at the rim. As with all mouth-blown Murano glass, since the piece was hand-formed, sizes and tone vary very slightly from example to example.

The Designer: Giusto Toso

Born in Murano in 1939 into the storied Toso glassmaking family, Giusto Toso trained first in his father’s furnace, Fratelli Toso, before earning an architecture degree in Venice in 1966. From 1963 onward he exhibited at major international design fairs, winning first prize at the Venice Biennale and two first prizes from the Bevilacqua La Masa foundation. Beginning in 1969 he began his long collaboration with Leucos, designing glass objects and modular lighting systems noted for their experimentation with new glass-forming techniques. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

About Leucos

Founded in Murano’s Scorzè in 1962, Leucos (“light” in Greek) emerged as one of the defining names of Italian glass lighting in the 1960s–70s, prized for pairing traditional Murano glassblowing with a distinctly modern, sculptural sensibility. Working with designers from Murano’s leading glass dynasties — the Toso family chief among them — Leucos helped define the warm, biomorphic glass lighting associated with Italian design of the era, exporting installations worldwide.

Dimensions - H 17 cm × D 40 cm (H 6¾ in × D 15¾ in)

Condition - Original hand-blown fumé Murano glass shade with black glass ring detail; in full working order.

The Bot will be shipped insured overseas in a custom made wooden crate. Cost of transport to the US, Euro 275, is crate included.

Colors may slightly vary due to photographic lighting sources or your monitor settings. 

Wear consistent with age and use.

We ship worldwide. Request a shipping quote by e-mail to tacojoustra@vintageobjects.com mentioning the piece you are interested in.

Pick-up by appointment only.

We are a 1stDibs Platinum dealer.