1950s ERCO Chandelier

Materials: Some early plastic conical lampshades. 5 anodised aluminium and curved, folded brass rods. Some plastic and metal parts. White Bakelite globe in the middle. Long brass rod. Half round brass canopy. 5 Bakelite E27 sockets.

Rod length: 50 cm / 19.68”

Height: 20 cm / 7.87”

Width: ∅ 55 cm / 21.65”

Electricity: 5 bulbs E27, 5 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

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

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: ERCO GmbH, Lüdenscheid, Germany.

Other versions: Several designs were used for this 1950s ERCO chandelier with a Bakelite globe in the middle. They exists as a floor lamp, table lamp and wall lamp. A flush mount with the same materials was also made, as you can see below. Another chandelier can be found here on Vintageinfo.

ERCO

ERCO was founded in 1934 by Arnold Reininger (1907-2003), Karl Reeber and Paul Buschhaus in Lüdenscheid, Germany. The company name ERCO represents a phonetic abbreviation of the founding name “Reininghaus & Co.“.

The company is still in family ownership. During the early years, ERCO produced parts for lamps. In particular a spring-supported retracting mechanism for pendant lamps.

In the 1930s the industrial production of complete luminaires was started. After the Second World War Arnold Reininger and Karl Reeber continued the company, co-founder Paul Buschhaus had died in the war.

Other famous designers that worked for the ERCO company are Roger Tallon, Ettore Sottsass, Emilio Ambasz, Shiro Kuramata, Giancarlo Piretti, Dieter Witte,  Yves Béhar, Knud Holscher, Franco Clivio, Naoto Fukasawa, Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner and many others.

The company was awarded many times thanks to these great artists and the vision of the ERCO company. ERCO received 88 iF Design Awards. 

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner was born in Reichenberg, Germany in 1920. He studied at the Staatliche Fachschule für Glasindustrie (State Technical College for the Glass Industry) in Zwiesel for 1934 until 1935. He worked as a freelancer for Peill + Putzler from 1953 until 1958. Several of his designs were also sold by Raak Amsterdam, but were produced by Peill + Putzler.

Later he started to work as an independent for, among others, ERCO. He was the first “real” designer that worked for the company. Gangkofner also designed lamps in the 1960s for Reininghaus & Co from Lüdenscheid, Germany which won several iFdesign awards. He died in Munich (München), Germany in 2003.