Vintageinfo – All About Vintage Lighting

Vintageinfo Google Search

The content of this website is subject to copyright. It is forbidden to copy the text for any purpose, including commercial uses such as the sale of lamps through e-commerce websites. Please respect the work of the owner. Thank you in advance.

All Rights Reserved. Please link to the items, do not copy!

PayPal

Louis Kalff Senior Desk Lamp

Materials: Round blue, turquoise painted curved base, cast iron counterweight inside. Built-in switch. Conical black lacquered copper rod, brass rod inside. Blue, turquoise painted aluminium mushroom lampshade with elongated slots and a whole in the middle. Painted white on the inside. Some metal & brass parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 50,5 cm / 19.88”

Lampshade: ∅ 40 cm / 15.74”

Base: ∅ 18 cm / 7.08”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used. But preferably a silver tipped light bulb of 100 watt. Bulbs from 60 watt are smaller. (use a dimmer…)

Period: 1950s, 1960s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Louis Christiaan Kalff.

Manufacturer: Philips, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Other versions: This Louis Kalff Senior desk lamp was made in many different colours. Also produced with a stainless steel or brass rod. These lamps were made in several sizes. The biggest lamp, +- 60 cm / 23” high was for a 200 watt bulb. They were made in several varieties over the years. A silver and gold plated version can be found over here, on Vintageinfo.

Below the successor from the seventies named Major or Consul. In the late seventies and early eighties it was named Timor (69).

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Inspired by the fast-growing electricity industry and the promising results of Gerard Philips own experiments to make reliable carbon filaments, Frederik Philips (his father) financed the purchase of a modest factory in Eindhoven, The Netherlands in 1891.  Frederik Philips was a Jewish banker based in Zaltbommel.

In 1895, after difficult first four years and near bankruptcy, Anton Philips joined the company. He was Gerard’s younger brother. With Anton’s arrival, the family business began to expand rapidly. The brothers changed their family business by founding the Philips corporation. They laid the foundations for the later electronics multinational.

In 1930 the first shaver of the Philips company was introduced and was simply called “The Philishave”.

A day before the German invasion in the Netherlands on 9 Mai 1940, the Philips family fled to the United States of America, taking a large amount of the company capital with them. Operating from the US as the North American Philips Company, they managed to run the company throughout the war. After World War II the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in Eindhoven.

Louis Christiaan Kalff (Amsterdam, November 14th 1897 – Waalre, September 16th, 1976)

Louis Kalff was a pioneering industrial designer in the Netherlands during the first half of the 20th century. With a solid background including studies in sculpture, ceramics, furniture design and architecture, he began to work for the Philips company in 1924,  department consumer electronics company marketing.

In 1929 he started a department for design of lighting products (LIBU – Lichtadviesbureau (Dutch for light consultancy). Louis Kalff was responsible for the lighting sections of the World Exhibitions in Barcelona, Antwerp and Paris.

 As freelancer he also designed posters and advertising for the Holland America Line, CalvéZeebad ScheveningenHolland Radio and others. Louis Kalff also designed book covers.

After World War II Kalff kept himself active in industrial design for Philips. After his retirement in 1960, Louis Kalff stayed with Philips as a consultant and architect. In 1961 he was given the direction and execution of the Evoluon building in Eindhoven. It was the last work of the light architect who almost worked for forty years at the Philips group.

Gold plated unique version, created by Hervé Gehler. Commissioned by Eric Brusson for Le Chaisanthrope, Paris, France.