1950s Lantern Pendant Lamp

Materials: Black and silver painted forged iron and iron. Brass decorative parts and ornamental screws. White opal conical glass. Iron white painted perforated mesh on top of the glass. Black and white painted square lampshade, brass chain. Bakelite socket.

Chain Length: 80 cm / 31.49’’

Height: 31 cm / 12.20”

Width: 21 cm / 8.26”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used. But a white, opaque or frosted one is preferred; it gives the best result with this light.

Period: 1950s, 1960s.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel, Kontich and Wommelgem, Belgium. (attributed)

Other version: This 1950s lantern pendant lamp was probably also made with clear glass.

These type of pendant lamps were made for many years. The origin is vague, but they were presumably first made in France and Italy. Of course the design is based on the typical candlestick lanterns, but there was a revival of this design in the 50s and 60s.

Massive

Massive was in origin a bronze foundry and they produced mainly candlesticks, crucifixes and chandeliers in Wilrijk near Antwerp, Belgium. The company was founded in 1926 by Pieter-Jozef De Jaeck. His son Eddy De Jaeck was responsible for the huge expansion of the company in the 1970s. But it were his sons, Piet and Jan De Jaeck who made Massive a true multinational. Thus, they moved production to Eastern Europe and China.

In the 1980s Massive became the leading brand in Europe. In 2002, the brothers left the company to the investment fund CVC Capital Partners, for allegedly more than 250 million euros. Since 2008 the company is owned by Philips and the name of the shops is changed into Light Gallery.

When the takeover by Philips was announced in November 2006 Massive commercialised more than 10.000 lighting products under brand names such as Massive, TRIO and Lirio. The group had about 5.000 employees worldwide and was active in 70 countries.

Massive sold many lamps made by others. Peill + Putzler from Germany and Yamada Shomei from Japan produced lamps for Massive, to name a few. Many other lighting companies did.

VLM Components

All the electric parts were made by VLM Components. VLM Components was founded in 1945 in Buccinasco, a small village near Milan, Italy. VLM Components is part of the Relco Group, founded in 1967. Today they are the owners of the brands Relco, Leuci, Relco Lighting, VLM Components and Segno. VLM Components became famous for the switches they produce which were designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968.