Peter Schmucker

My first Tolomeo, which I then bought during my student years, was a Mega Terra, followed a short while later by a Tolomeo Decentrata, a ceiling lamp with a parchment shade. I was won over by its practicality – thanks to the jointed arm, I was able to shine the light easily on the dining table, which was offset in the room. Many years later, I equipped my own home exclusively with Artemide lamps, and here too, the Tolomeo in all sorts of versions became the norm. I would never have believed that Artemide could make it possible, but we got the lampshades for the Faretto in the colour I wanted – white. So I own some real Tolomeo one-offs! In the office, the Tolomeo was always something we could agree on across the generations – apart from the Tolomeo XXL. My senior partner Andreas Schmucker wanted to keep the ceiling in his office free from any installations and suggested that this super-sized version should be installed. I felt that this solution was inappropriate, not serious enough, and I really struggled with it initially. But four years later, I can say that it does the job perfectly and that now I'm also amused that, between the XXL and the little Tolomeo on the desk, it's impossible to maintain any sense of scale. But I think the most beautiful thing about it is that the lamp is on the seventh floor of our office on the banks of the Rhine, and it looks fantastic when it's viewed from the passing ships.”