1950s VEB Leuchtenbau Table Lamp

Materials: Round mint green painted iron base. Round black labelled lid on the bottom of the base. Cast iron counterweight inside the base. Conical tube in the middle, perforated with elongated slots. Round iron mushroom style lampshade, also in mint green paint. Ornamental brass nut on top. Some metal parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 36 cm / 14.17”

Width: 33 cm / 12.99”

Base: ∅ 13,5 cm / 5.31”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 40 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: Lutz Rudolf (1936 – 2011) – attributed.

Manufacturer: VEB Leuchtenbau, Lengefeld, Germany.

This 1950s VEB Leuchtenbau table lamp has a date stamp printed on the bottom of the base: June 25, 1958 and a number 7204, probably the model number.

The Polish company Stołeczne Zakłady produced a table lamp in this style, but the differences are big enough not to be confused with this lamp.

VEB Leuchtenbau

The VEB Leuchtenbau company was founded in 1900 as Wittig und Schwabe Metalldruckwarenfabriken (Metal Printing Factories), Lengefeld. Right after World War II in 1946, the name changed into VEB Leuchtenbau. In 1963 they manufactured some 1.5 million lamps, of which 80% were exported. In 1965 they produced 120 different models of lamps.

One of the most famous lamps produced by VEB Leuchtenbau is the Kontrast floor lamp, designed by Lutz Rudolf in 1961, when he was 25. The manufacturer himself doubted the success of “this thing” and planned only a small number of pieces.

However, the production was carried through until 1975, in which 11,000 pieces were produced. The GDR citizens at that time were fortunate that the product landed mainly on the domestic East German market, which was not the case with all the design objects. Despite colourfully designed variants, the majority of customers opted for the original, simple-white design of the lampshades of this floor lamp.

Other designers that worked for VEB Leuchtenbau are: Peter Beyer, Klaus Neubert, Theo Schröder, Christian Wagner…

VEB: Volks Eigener Betrieb – Publicly-owned business. VEB was the main legal form of industrial enterprise in the communist East Germany.

AKA ELECTRIC was the trademark for electrical household appliances, lights and vehicle electrics in the GDR. 

In 1969, 15 of the most important electro-technical, electronic and photo-optical producers in the GDR were merged to form the Volkseigener Betriebe Elektrischer Konsumgüter. The Publicly-owned business of Electrical Consumer Goods.