1960s Red Glass & Chrome Chandelier

Materials: 6 round, clear, embossed pressed glass lampshades. Red dots on top (painted red). Chromed metal (iron) tubes, parts and rods. Long chrome rod and canopy. 6 Bakelite E27 sockets.

Rod Length: 60 cm / 23.62”

Height: 25 cm / 9.84”

Width: ∅ 66 cm / 25.98”

Electricity: 6 bulbs E27, 6 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel, Kontich and Wommelgem, Belgium.

Other versions: This 1960s red glass & chrome chandelier exists in many different colours and models: white, green, orange… Exists as a single pendant lamp, 3, 5 ,6 and more together, several lights on a rail, together as a chandelier, 6, 8, 12 lights, wall lamp… they were a huge success.

In some countries these lamps were sold as Space Star lamps. In Germany they were also sold by Neckermann.

Doyen

The glass of these type of lamps was made by the Belgian glass factory Doyen. The company no longer exists. It was located in Havré-Ville, near Mons and active between 1909 and 1975.

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.

The Massive company was always a synonym for mass production, low quality and low prices. Despite the fact that they produced mostly low-cost lamps, occasionally there are still beautiful lamps in their collection and not all of them were cheap.  

Raak

These type of lamps are often sold as lamps from Raak, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, but they are not, of course. These lamps are not described in any catalogue of the Raak company and Raak lamps are always labelled. Sometimes a label disappears, but not always. The design of this chandelier is also far away from the Raak designs.

Not everyone is aware that these lamps are not made by Raak, on the contrary. Most of the time people attribute lamps to what they find on the internet. Hopefully it will change in time.

A good example is the Night Club pendant chandelier. Always sold in The Netherlands as Raak, but it is a lamp made by Massive. Strange that in a country with 6 big Massive shops in the sixties never a Massive lamp appears for sale… Every lamp is Raak, Dijkstra, ANVIA, all Dutch brands. This is partly because Massive lamps rarely have a label. But also because Raak is more fancy and the Raak name sells better, and for more money. 

Massive lamps that are often sold as Raak